Susan Gough

Background & Military Career

Colonel (retired) Susan Gough is a career U.S. Army strategic communications specialist with deep expertise in psychological operations (PSYOP) and military information support operations. She earned a Master of Science in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College (2002–2003) and spent her career advancing Pentagon messaging strategies. Before her UAP assignment, Gough held positions at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, where she honed expertise in strategic influence campaigns and narrative management.

Gough wrote a formal USAWC thesis titled "The Evolution of Strategic Influence," arguing that psychological operations and public affairs functions cannot be cleanly separated—a position that would later become central to controversy around her role. Based in Frederick, Maryland, she sits at the intersection of military communications and strategic influence, a background that shaped how she would manage the Pentagon's most sensitive portfolio.

Pentagon's UAP Spokesperson (2020–Present)

In June 2020, Gough was appointed as the Department of Defense's first dedicated "UAP public affairs czar," consolidating all Pentagon official statements on UFOs and anomalous phenomena under her singular point of contact. This role placed her at the center of the Pentagon's disclosure strategy during the post-2017 UAP era, when growing Congressional pressure, pilot testimony, and leaked videos forced the military to acknowledge the reality of the sightings while carefully controlling the narrative around their nature and origin.

From 2020 onward, Gough became the public face of Pentagon UFO policy. She confirmed the authenticity of the "Go Fast" and "Gimbal" Navy videos in September 2019, acknowledging that naval aviators had recorded "an increased number of training range incursions by unidentified aerial phenomena in recent years." She managed statements about AATIP (Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program) and later coordinated communications for AARO (All-Domain Anomaly Resolution Office), the Pentagon's UAP investigative hub established in 2022. Throughout the 2023–2024 Congressional UFO hearings, Gough issued Pentagon guidance that rigidly held to the line: no verifiable evidence of extraterrestrial technology, no confirmation of recovered NHI biologics, no proof of reverse-engineering programs—despite mounting whistleblower claims to the contrary.

The PSYOP Controversy

Gough's role became the subject of intense scrutiny during the July 2023 House Oversight Committee UFO hearing. Whistleblower Lue Elizondo, former director of AATIP, directly challenged her position, stating: "Most Americans would be shocked to learn that the Pentagon's very own Public Affairs Office openly employs a professional psychological operations officer," referring to Gough as "the singular point of contact for all UAP-related inquiries." When pressed for specifics, Elizondo alleged "a long history here of that individual providing misleading and false information . . . in order to discredit this topic" and suggested there was an "existing relationship there to feed misinformation to the American public."

The critique struck at her core expertise: her PSYOP training made her simultaneously qualified to manage sensitive Pentagon messaging and—in the eyes of disclosure advocates—ideally positioned to deploy information strategy techniques against transparency. Critics noted that her official denials were sometimes contradicted by subsequent releases or inspector general findings. For instance, she initially denied that the classified AAWSAP (Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program) had any connection to UFO investigations, only to be contradicted when the DoD Inspector General later confirmed AAWSAP was indeed UAP-related. Journalist Ross Coulthart called out the Pentagon's apparent misrepresentation, drawing attention to Gough's role in managing that narrative.

Guardian of the Skeptical Line (2024–2026)

Throughout 2024 and into 2026, Gough continued as the primary Pentagon spokesperson managing UAP disclosures. In January 2024, she reported that AARO was on track to reach full operational capability. As of February 2026, she announced that AARO had accumulated over 2,000 UAP cases under examination and was beginning to coordinate with the scientific and academic community through invitation-only workshops. Her statements consistently maintained Pentagon neutrality: anomalies are tracked, analyzed, investigated—but no leap to extraordinary conclusions.

Gough represents a distinctly skeptical institutional position within the disclosure era: the government insider who acknowledges the phenomenon while maintaining protective distance from its implications. Her PSYOP background, combined with her central role as the Pentagon's gate-keeper for UAP information, exemplifies the tension between transparency demands and military information strategy during an era of unprecedented pressure for UFO answers.