Scott Francis O'Grady (born October 12, 1965) is a former United States Air Force (USAF) fighter pilot. On June 2, 1995, he was shot down over Bosnia and Herzegovina by a 2K12 Kub (NATO designation SA-6 "Gainful") mobile surface-to-air missile (SAM) and forced to eject from his F-16C into hostile territory. US Marines from heavy-helicopter squadron HMH-464 and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit eventually rescued O'Grady after six days of evading the Bosnian Serbs. In February 1994 he had unsuccessfully engaged Serb ground attack aircraft that had violated the NATO-enforced Operation Deny Flight no-fly zone over Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines is loosely based on his experience of being shot down and rescued.
In September 2011, O'Grady announced a run for the 2012 Republican nomination for Texas State Senate District 8 seat, held at the time by the retiring Republican Florence Shapiro. In January 2012, he suspended his campaign "due to the uncertainty of a primary election date from redistricting." In November 2020, President Donald Trump stated an official intention to nominate O'Grady as the next Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs. The nomination was submitted to the Senate for confirmation on November 30, 2020. Before and during the nomination, O'Grady had spread numerous disproved conspiracy theories regarding the 2020 United States presidential election and calls by Michael Flynn for Trump to institute martial law. Later, as part of the 555th Fighter Squadron based at Aviano Air Base, Italy, he was piloting one of two F-16s patrolling the skies above Bosnia on June 2, 1995. a USAF RQ-1 Predator drone was shot down by Serb forces in the same area. The Serbs recovered the wreckage and handed it over to Russia for technical evaluation.
O'Grady received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart for this mission.
Nomination: Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs
In November 2020, President Donald Trump announced his intent to nominate O'Grady to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs). The President justified this intent to appoint by citing O'Grady's combat experience, his book Return With Honor, and Master's degree in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary and Honorary Doctorate of Public Service from the University of Portland in Oregon.
Shortly before and during the nomination period, O'Grady retweeted Twitter posts that promoted conspiracy-theories about the 2020 United States presidential election, including claims that Trump won the election in a "landslide fashion", that millions of votes were "stolen from [Trump]", and that Hillary Clinton and George Soros were involved in helping foreign agents interfere in the election. Additionally, O'Grady "signaled support" for conspiracy theories by Sidney Powell, alleging an international conspiracy of politicians, CIA agents, communists, and deceased former president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez working with Dominion Voting Systems to rig the election for Biden;
On January 3, 2021, his nomination was returned to the President under Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6 of the United States Senate. The rule specifies that if final action has not been taken before Congress adjourns, the nomination returns to the president.
Defense Policy Board
On December 14, 2020 the Department of Defense announced that the Trump administration nominated O'Grady to the Defense Policy Board, as a part of a slate of replacement nominations for the 11 board members who were abruptly fired in November 2020. O'Grady was sworn in as the board member on January 19, 2021, the last full day of Trump's presidency, under pressure from the White House to complete his and other similar nominations. Following the election of President Joe Biden, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered a "zero-based review" of all the Pentagon advisory boards and fired all of the members appointed by the DoD, including all the Defense Policy Board members, effective February 16, 2021.
Personal life
O'Grady was born in Brooklyn, New York City, a son of William P. O'Grady and Mary Lou Scardapane, and graduated from Lewis and Clark High School in Spokane, Washington. He is a former cadet in the Civil Air Patrol and a 1989 Air Force ROTC graduate from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's campus in Prescott, Arizona. After his rescue, O'Grady transferred from active duty in the regular U.S. Air Force to the Air Force Reserve, where he continued to fly the F-16. In May 2007, he completed a master's degree in biblical studies at Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He resides in Frisco in Collin County, Texas.
O'Grady is an active Republican, having spoken at the 1996 Republican convention in support of Bob Dole. In 2004, O'Grady, supporting George W. Bush for re-election, accused Bush's opponent John Kerry of "treason" for actions taken during the Vietnam War. O'Grady endorsed Brian Birdwell in his successful 2010 bid for the Texas State Senate, then launched his own candidacy for the Texas state house in September 2011, seeking the 2012 Republican nomination in Senate District 8 following the retirement of Sen. Florence Shapiro.
In popular culture
The shootdown incident was depicted and described on the documentary television program Situation Critical in episode No. 5, "Downed Pilot". This has been shown on the National Geographic Channel. It was also covered in "Escape! – Escape From Bosnia: The Scott O'Grady Story" on the History Channel. The BBC also made a documentary, titled "Missing in Action", that was later purchased by 20th Century Fox and Discovery Communications.
The 2001 film Behind Enemy Lines, starring Gene Hackman and Owen Wilson, is loosely based on this event. Although O'Grady had given the film a positive rating on the film review television show Hot Or Not, O'Grady took offense at the portrayal of 'his' character in Behind Enemy Lines "as a pilot who disobeys orders and swears". O'Grady sued 20th Century Fox in 2002 for falsely misleading the public that the film was true to life. He also took action over the documentary, Behind Enemy Lines: The Scott O'Grady Story, which was a re-edited version of a BBC documentary which Discovery Communications, parent company of the Discovery Channel, had purchased and edited. The documentary was broadcast several times on the Discovery Channel, and O'Grady accused Fox of using it to promote the film. Both suits were settled in 2004. Fox made a confidential settlement with O'Grady, while a Texas court ruled against O'Grady and in favor of Discovery Communications. The judge's ruling stated, in effect, that the events in a person's life are not the same thing as that person's likeness or image.
O'Grady co-wrote two books, collaborating on one, with Michael French, that detailed his experiences of being shot down over Bosnia and his eventual rescue, Basher Five-Two: The True Story of F-16 Fighter Pilot Captain Scott O'Grady. He first wrote a book that was a New York Times Bestseller about his experience in Return with Honor with Jeff Coplon. Another book has also been written; this one, "Good To Go:" The Rescue of Capt. Scott O'Grady, USAF, from Bosnia, was written by Mary Pat Kelly.