--- alias: - Tim Gallaudet - Timothy Gallaudet - Timothy C. Gallaudet - Timothy Cole Gallaudet - RDML Tim Gallaudet - Rear Admiral Tim Gallaudet - Gallaudet category: UFO & Anomalous Phenomena created: 2026-10-03 location: United States relations: - fn: 1 role: oceanographer; Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command; Oceanographer of the Navy; Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory (per his House biography); rear admiral, retired type: employed_by with: '[[United States Navy]]' - fn: 3 role: Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and deputy administrator; acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (acting administrator) start: 2017-10-05 type: employed_by with: '[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]]' - fn: 1 role: speaker at the 2023 and 2024 symposia; author of Sol paper Vol. 1 No. 1 (March 2024); 'advisory board member' per his November 2024 House biography; 'senior strategic advisor' in his testimony of November 13, 2024; 'Senior Advisor' on the foundation's website (October 3, 2026) start: 2023-11-17 type: member_of with: '[[Sol Foundation]]' - fn: 1 role: advisory board member per his November 2024 biography type: member_of with: '[[Americans for Safe Aerospace]]' - fn: 1 role: advisory board member per his November 2024 biography type: member_of with: '[[UAP Disclosure Fund]]' - fn: 1 role: research affiliate per his November 2024 biography type: member_of with: '[[Galileo Project]]' - fn: 2 role: oceanography, on the list Avi Loeb supplied to DefenseScoop start: 2026-06 type: member_of with: '[[UAP Science Advisory Council]]' summary: Retired Navy rear admiral and oceanographer who served as Assistant Secretary of Commerce and acting NOAA head, testified to the House Oversight Committee on UAP on November 13, 2024 and advises several UAP groups. tags: - Person - UFO - UAP - USNavy - NOAA - Oceanography - SolFoundation - Disclosure updated: 2026-10-03 --- Timothy Gallaudet holds a bachelor's degree from the United States Naval Academy and master's and doctoral degrees from the Scripps Institution of Oceanography. His biography submitted to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability for its November 13, 2024 hearing describes a career as an oceanographer and technology consultant and lists service as acting Under Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Commerce, acting and deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Oceanographer of the Navy. It adds that "his experience as the Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Observatory gave him a greater appreciation for [UAP's] scientific validity," that he serves as "strategic advisor and board member for several startups, nonprofits, and research institutions in the ocean, weather, environment, and space sectors," and that he is a member of the Ocean Studies Board of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the White House Ocean Research Advisory Panel.[^1] ### Navy and NOAA DefenseScoop described him in June 2026 as a retired admiral who had served as commander of the Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command and as assistant secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere.[^2] The Senate record shows his nomination as Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere (PN897, 115th Congress, vice Mark E. Schaefer) received on September 5, 2017, a hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee on September 27, 2017 (S. Hrg. 115-642), a favorable report on October 4, 2017 and confirmation by voice vote on October 5, 2017.[^3] On July 24, 2018 he testified before a Senate Commerce subcommittee on NOAA's "Blue Economy Initiative" under the title "Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere."[^4] The biography footer of his House submission gives the address of his consulting firm as oceanSTL.com.[^1] ### UAP positions His House biography lists UAP writings in a Sol Foundation paper ("Beneath the Surface: We May Learn More about UAP by Looking in the Ocean," which the foundation's website numbers Volume 1, No. 1, March 2024), in The Hill and in Real Clear Science, and an appearance on The Shawn Ryan Show, and describes him as "seeking to elevate the scientific study of undersea and transmedium UAP to a national research priority." It names him a research affiliate of the [Galileo Project](/organizations/galileo-project/) at [Harvard University](/organizations/harvard-university/) and an advisory board member of [Americans for Safe Aerospace](/organizations/americans-for-safe-aerospace/), the UAP Disclosure Fund and the [Sol Foundation](/organizations/sol-foundation/).[^1] He spoke at the first Sol symposium on November 17 to 18, 2023 in Palo Alto, California and at the second on November 22 to 23, 2024 in [San Francisco](/places/san-francisco/).[^5][^6] On November 12, 2024 he transmitted to the committee a letter, signed by [Garry Nolan](/people/garry-nolan/), [Peter Skafish](/people/peter-skafish/), [Avi Loeb](/people/avi-loeb/), [Christopher Mellon](/people/christopher-mellon/), [Luis Elizondo](/people/luis-elizondo/), [Diana Walsh Pasulka](/people/diana-walsh-pasulka/), [John B. Alexander](/people/john-b-alexander/), Michio Kaku and others, urging enactment of the review-board provisions of the [Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act](/concepts/unidentified-anomalous-phenomena-disclosure-act/); the signers included Yuan Fung as executive director of the UAP Disclosure Fund.[^7] He appeared as a witness at the committee's November 13, 2024 hearing, "[Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena](/concepts/unidentified-anomalous-phenomena/): Exposing the Truth." Asked by Representative [Robert Garcia](/people/robert-garcia/) about the Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Disclosure Act, he said it "will allow for greater transparency and open research" and that "that is why I am also a member of the UAP Discloser Fund as an advisor and the Sol Foundation as a senior strategic advisor, which is advocating the same" (the transcript prints "Discloser").[^8] The foundation's website lists him as "Senior Advisor" among its executive leadership.[^9] A March 9, 2025 question-and-answer session after the South by Southwest premiere of "The Age of Disclosure" is catalogued with Gallaudet, Nolan, [Karl Nell](/people/karl-nell/), [Hal Puthoff](/people/hal-puthoff/), [Jim Semivan](/people/jim-semivan/) and the producer Dan Farah.[^10] In June 2026 Loeb gave DefenseScoop a roster of twelve members of a UAP Science Advisory Council that includes Gallaudet (oceanography), Nolan, Skafish, Michael Shermer and Ben Lamm. Gallaudet told DefenseScoop that he hoped to apply his ocean-science and government-leadership experience "to help the council most effectively accomplish its mission and support the new UAP Governance Board."[^2] [^1]: "The Honorable Tim Gallaudet, PhD, Rear Admiral, U.S. Navy (ret)," biography submitted to the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, November 13, 2024. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Bio-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113.pdf [^2]: "New science advisory council forms to help US government 'resolve the UAP mystery,'" *DefenseScoop*, June 17, 2026. https://defensescoop.com/2026/06/17/new-science-advisory-council-forms-to-help-us-government-resolve-the-uap-mystery/ [^3]: PN897, Nomination of Timothy Gallaudet for Department of Commerce, 115th Congress, action history read October 3, 2026. https://www.congress.gov/nomination/115th-congress/897 [^4]: Written statement of RDML Timothy Gallaudet, Ph.D., USN Ret., Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard, July 24, 2018. https://www.commerce.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/media/doc/7.24.18_Gallaudet_Testimony.pdf [^5]: Micah Hanks, *The Debrief*, February 12, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/the-sol-foundation-academias-new-uap-think-tank-releases-videos-of-lectures-from-its-inaugural-symposium/ [^6]: Chrissy Newton, *The Debrief*, December 20, 2024. https://thedebrief.org/academics-investors-and-uap-seekers-unite-at-the-2024-sol-foundation-symposium/ [^7]: Statement of Tim Gallaudet with signatory letter dated November 12, 2024, House Committee on Oversight and Accountability. https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO12/20241113/117721/HHRG-118-GO12-Wstate-GallaudetPhDRearAdmiralUSNavyRetT-20241113-SD001.pdf [^8]: House Committee on Oversight and Accountability, joint hearing, November 13, 2024. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CHRG-118hhrg57440/html/CHRG-118hhrg57440.htm [^9]: The Sol Foundation, home page, "People" section, https://thesolfoundation.org/ , read October 3, 2026. [^10]: Anomaly Archives, "Nell, Karl E.," appearances list. https://anomalyarchives.org/collections/file/nell-karl/