FBI Investigates Deaths and Disappearances of Over a Dozen Space and Nuclear Scientists

The FBI is formally investigating the deaths and disappearances of at least 11 American scientists with ties to NASA, nuclear research, and classified defense programs, including individuals connected to SpaceX and Blue Origin. The House Oversight Committee demanded answers from four federal agencies on April 21, 2026, calling the pattern a potential national security threat.

Congress Demands Answers

Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) sent letters Monday to FBI Director Kash Patel, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, requesting staff-level briefings no later than April 27.

"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," the letters stated.

Comer said the string of cases was unlikely to be coincidental. "Once you see the facts, it would suggest that something sinister could be happening and it would be a national security concern," he said, adding that Congress viewed it as a top priority.

White House and FBI Respond

The White House formally acknowledged the pattern on April 15, when press secretary Karoline Leavitt called it "worth looking into." President Trump told reporters he would have answers within "the next week and a half," adding, "Some of them were very important people."

In a follow-up post on X, Leavitt confirmed the administration "is actively working with all relevant agencies and the FBI to holistically review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities."

On Sunday, Patel confirmed the FBI is formally investigating. "We're going to look for connections on whether there are connections to classified access, access to classified information, and or foreign actors," he told Fox News. "If there's any connections that lead to nefarious conduct or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest."

NASA stated it was coordinating with relevant agencies and that "nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat."

The Scientists and What They Worked On

The cases span institutions including JPL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, MIT, Caltech, and the Kansas City National Security Campus, dating back to 2022. The fields involved are notably small: only a few hundred scientists specialize in planetary defense, asteroid characterization, and space-based detection systems.

Monica Reza, 60, was director of JPL's materials processing group and had patented a nickel super-alloy used in reusable rockets including New Glenn and Starship. She vanished during a hike in June 2025 and was never found. Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, disappeared from his Albuquerque home on February 27, 2026. The committee noted the two had worked together on an Air Force-funded research program involving advanced materials for reusable space vehicles and weapons in the early 2000s.

JPL principal scientist Frank Maiwald, 61, died on July 4, 2024, with no cause of death released. Government contractor Steven Garcia, who oversaw nuclear weapons assets at the Kansas City National Security Campus, disappeared in August 2025. Michael Hicks, a JPL employee who worked on asteroid characterization that fed into NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test, died in July 2023 at age 59.

Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, who worked on asteroid detection telescopes, was found shot dead on his front porch in rural Llano, California. Two Los Alamos employees, Anthony Chavez and Melissa Casias, vanished weeks apart in 2025 under nearly identical circumstances, each leaving behind their car, keys, wallet, and phone. Jason Thomas, a government contractor with active DOD contracts, disappeared in December 2025 and was found dead in a Massachusetts lake three months later.

The Space Defense Connection

The committee's inquiry goes beyond NASA to the growing commercial space-defense sector. Blue Origin unveiled its NEO Hunter planetary defense concept in March 2026, developed with JPL and Caltech, with capabilities that overlap with missile-defense detection and interception systems. SpaceX received nearly $6 billion and Blue Origin approximately $2.3 billion in Space Force national security launch contracts in April 2025.

SpaceX is separately under contract for the Golden Dome missile defense satellite constellation, and Blue Origin has been added to the $151 billion SHIELD contract through the Missile Defense Agency. The research carried out by several of the missing and deceased scientists directly underpins technologies now being commercialized through these contracts. Among the violent crimes drawing federal attention this year, this cluster stands apart for its concentration in one specialized, classified field.

Foreign Threat Speculation

Former FBI official Chris Swecker recently speculated the pattern is consistent with how foreign powers operate, by "abducting, blackmailing, torturing, and even killing" scientists to extract intelligence. A Caltech colleague told Newsweek the concentration of deaths within such a small field defies ordinary probability.

Among high-profile deaths that have drawn public attention this year, investigators say the scientists' cases are unique in their potential intelligence implications. The committee is pressing all four agencies to brief congressional staff by April 27 as it works to determine whether the pattern reflects foreign espionage or another threat to U.S. national security.

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