Scott O'Grady

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.