Admiral Bobby Ray Inman

Admiral Bobby Ray Inman (born 1931) is a retired US Navy admiral and career intelligence officer. He served as Director of the NSA (1977–1981) and as Deputy Director of Central Intelligence (1981–1982) before retiring from government service. He later served on the board of directors of SAIC Science Applications International Corporation.

The Oechsler Phone Call

Inman is cited in UAP research primarily for a recorded phone conversation with NASA engineer Bob Oechsler. In the call, Oechsler asked whether recovered UAP vehicles might be made available to outside researchers for technological study. Inman named Everett Hineman — then serving as CIA Deputy Director of Science and Technology — as "the best person to ask" on that question.

Inman's actual words were carefully hedged: "I honestly don't know. Ten years ago the answer would have been no. Whether as time has evolved they are becoming more open about it, there's a possibility." This is speculative commentary from a retired official, not a disclosure or confirmation of a program. The referral to Hineman is consistent with Hineman being the most senior technical intelligence official Inman knew with plausible access to such programs — it does not constitute evidence that Hineman directed UAP-related work.

The call has been corroborated as genuine by multiple secondary sources and is the primary evidentiary basis for Hineman's association with UAP research in the open literature.