In a remarkably candid interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, former intelligence officer David Grusch said he has seen images of recovered craft and bodies, knows of nonhuman occupants reportedly recovered alive, and believes physical evidence remains hidden in government and contractor facilities.

Former U.S. intelligence officer and UAP whistleblower David Grusch made some of his most expansive public claims yet during an Aug. 13, 2026, interview with Dr. Phil McGraw, describing alleged recovered craft, biological entities and, most strikingly, nonhuman occupants reportedly recovered alive.

Grusch said people associated with a retrieval program provided him with photographs and video showing recovered craft and dead occupants. He stressed that he did not personally encounter the bodies or vehicles; his direct exposure was to audiovisual evidence and documentation, supplemented by interviews with people he said had firsthand involvement.

When McGraw asked whether Grusch had seen images of life forms piloting the craft and their cadavers, Grusch answered yes. He said some recovered objects appeared to be drones, some vehicles were found empty and others were piloted. He also said some beings resembled the small “gray” figures familiar from decades of witness reports. One of the most notable witness reports involving grays or visitors is Whitley Strieber’s.

But Grusch did not describe a single species or technology. He characterized the phenomenon as a “taxonomy” of intelligences, ranging from entities apparently somewhat more advanced than humans to forms of sentience he described as noncorporeal. He similarly listed multiple vehicle configurations, including discs, boomerangs, crescents, Tic Tac-like objects and egg-shaped craft. He cautioned against assuming that everything involved is extraterrestrial.

Grusch also put a number on the alleged retrieval history: more than 25 but fewer than 100 vehicles, saying “several dozen” had been recovered over roughly eight or nine decades. He claimed some material has passed into private defense-contractor possession, complicating any accounting.

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The interview’s most consequential moment came when McGraw asked whether occupants had ever been recovered alive.

“Yes,” Grusch replied. He said he knows people who had direct interactions with beings in a “detainment situation.” Asked whether communication occurred, Grusch again answered yes and described what witnesses interpreted as consciousness-based communication, commonly called telepathy. Grusch acknowledged that he has no personal experience of such communication and does not know how it might work.

If independently substantiated, that claim would raise questions that extend beyond disclosure and national security. If a government has detained — or continues to detain — intelligent nonhuman beings capable of communication, what legal or ethical status would such beings have? What obligations would humans have toward them? And if they represent another civilization or intelligence, could detention itself constitute a form of first diplomatic contact? Those questions are implications of Grusch’s allegation, not facts established by the interview.

Related: “If This Is My Final Duty of Public Service”: Grusch Joins New Disclosure Appeal →

Grusch further alleged that recovered material, documentation and biological remains have been stored across government and contractor facilities. He said he knew locations containing records, material holdings and cadavers as recently as several years ago, although he cannot confirm what remains there today. He also claimed sensitive programs can relocate materials when a location is compromised. Asked whether he could still lead officials to a facility containing physical evidence, Grusch said he believed he could, referring only to a location “out west.”

These remain extraordinary claims. The interview did not publicly produce the photographs, bodies, craft, records or other physical evidence Grusch described. His statements therefore establish what he says he encountered during his investigation — not independent proof that nonhuman beings or recovered nonhuman craft are in U.S. possession.

That distinction also defines the next stage of the disclosure question: If the evidence exists where Grusch says it does, can investigators find it and bring it into public view?

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