FBI probes deaths, disappearances of nuclear and rocket scientists
The FBI is looking for any possible connections between the deaths and disappearances of at least 10 scientists and other personnel tied to U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology, according to the bureau.
In a statement on Tuesday, the FBI said it is “spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists.” The bureau said it is working with the Department of Energy, Department of War and state and local law enforcement partners “to find answers.”
The statement comes after the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said last month that it was seeking information from the Department of Energy, Department of War, FBI and NASA about scientists and other personnel connected to sensitive U.S. scientific programs who have died or “mysteriously” vanished in recent years.
“The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is investigating recent unconfirmed public reporting on the disappearance and death of individuals with access to sensitive U.S. scientific information,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer and Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison wrote.
“If the reports are accurate, these deaths and disappearances may represent a grave threat to U.S. national security and to U.S. personnel with access to scientific secrets,” Comer said.
The lawmakers said public reports had raised questions about a possible connection between a string of deaths and disappearances that began in 2023 with the death of Michael David Hicks, who worked as a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1998 to 2022.
They said another former JPL official, Monica Reza, who served as director of the lab’s Materials Processing Group, disappeared while hiking in California in June 2025 and remains missing.
The committee also cited the disappearance of retired Air Force General William Neil McCasland, who vanished from his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in February 2026 with a .38 caliber revolver and has not been found.
According to the committee, the other missing or deceased individuals identified in public reports include two more people affiliated with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, two affiliated with Los Alamos National Laboratory, an MIT scientist working on nuclear fusion, a pharmaceutical researcher and a government contractor working at a nuclear weapons component production facility.
“I just left a meeting on that subject, so pretty serious stuff,” Trump told reporters last week. “Hopefully, coincidence… but some of them were very important people, and we are going to look at it.”
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
