Dr. L. Reginald "Reggie" Brothers Jr. is a U.S. electrical engineer, former defense research official, former Department of Homeland Security science-and-technology under secretary, and private-sector technology executive whose public UAP relevance began when NASA named him to its independent study team on unidentified aerial phenomena on October 21, 2022.1
Sensor Credentials and Federal R&D
In his March 5, 2014 Senate nomination statement, Brothers described his technical background as sensor systems, communications, data networking, and cybersecurity, and he tied his public-service argument to technology transition across government, laboratories, academia, and industry.2
Institutional biographies trace the same technical path. Tufts Engineering lists his B.S. in electrical engineering from Tufts University, M.S. in electrical engineering from Southern Methodist University, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.3 CSET identifies him as a former Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology Distinguished Fellow and records senior roles at DARPA and BAE Systems before his DHS service.4
DHS Science Portfolio
The Senate received Brothers' nomination for DHS Under Secretary for Science and Technology on January 30, 2014, and confirmed him by voice vote on April 7, 2014.5 DHS's archived biography says the role made him science adviser to the secretary and deputy secretary and gave him oversight of the Science and Technology Directorate, the department's research, development, testing, and evaluation arm for DHS operational elements and first responders.6
Before DHS, Brothers served from 2011 to 2014 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research, responsible for policy and oversight of Department of Defense science-and-technology programs and laboratories.3 In House testimony after his confirmation, members introduced him as the new DHS science-and-technology under secretary, cited his prior defense research role, and named his earlier BAE Systems and DARPA experience.7
NASA's 2022 UAP Study Appointment
NASA's October 21, 2022 announcement made Brothers one of 16 members of the agency's UAP independent study team. NASA defined the team's assignment as a nine-month effort to identify how civilian government, commercial, and other unclassified data could be analyzed to support future UAP study, not as a review of earlier cases.1
NASA described Brothers on that roster as an operating partner at AE Industrial Partners, former BigBear.ai CEO and board member, former Peraton executive vice president and chief technology officer, former Chertoff Group principal, former DHS science-and-technology under secretary, former Defense Department research official, CSET fellow, and MIT visiting committee member.1
AI and Aerospace Networks
Brothers' post-government public footprint moved through AI, data analytics, aerospace, defense, and research-advisory institutions. BigBear.ai's 2022 SEC registration statement identifies him as the company's CEO and director, says he had been CEO since July 2020, and records prior roles at NuWave Solutions, Peraton, The Chertoff Group, DHS, the Defense Department, DARPA, BAE Systems, Draper Laboratory, Envoy Networks, and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.8
BigBear.ai announced on October 11, 2022 that Brothers would step down as CEO and board member effective October 12, remain an adviser to the company, and transition to operating partner at AE Industrial Partners.9 Nine days later, on October 21, 2022, NASA named him to the UAP study team during his AE Industrial Partners tenure.19
Riverside Research lists Brothers as a trustee since 2017 and describes additional advisory positions on the Department of the Air Force Science Advisory Board, MIT Lincoln Laboratory Advisory Board, and MIT Visiting Committee for Sponsored Research.10
NASA UAP Study Participation
The NASA announcement and final 2023 UAP study report identify Brothers as a team member, not as a personal UAP witness, whistleblower, or recovered-material claimant.111 The report placed that service inside recommendations on data quality, sensor calibration, metadata, reporting stigma, AI and machine learning, NASA's support role, and cooperation with AARO.11
The team's evidentiary boundary was explicit: limited high-quality observations and the absence of consistent, detailed, curated data prevented definitive scientific conclusions, and eyewitness reports were usually not reproducible enough to determine provenance.11
DHS R&D Oversight Context
NASA's September 14, 2023 release framed the report as a roadmap for future UAP collection and analysis, not a review or assessment of prior incidents.12
On September 9, 2014, GAO told Congress that DHS's R&D efforts had been fragmented and overlapping, that S&T had not fully implemented new policy guidance for coordinating and tracking R&D activities, and that GAO would keep monitoring DHS's corrective work.13