White House backs FBI probe into dead and missing US defence scientists

A nuclear physicist murdered outside his house. An aerospace engineer who disappeared during a hike. A retired Air Force general who left home and wasn’t seen again.

These are just three of the 10 people who have died or disappeared since 2022 who had access to sensitive American nuclear and aerospace research, according to CNN, prompting the United States Government to investigate.

Republican Eric Burlison, who sits on the House Oversight Committee, said the cases could be connected.

“I would not be surprised if our adversaries – China, Russia, Iran, or any other adversary – saw an opportunity to take out some of our nation’s top scientists, I would not be shocked,” he told NewsNation.

Burlison said the dead and missing all had access to “the highest security levels one could possibly imagine” and worked on projects of national security.

The FBI announced on Monday it would “spearhead the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists”.

The investigation comes after speculation ramped up online after the disappearance of 68-year-old retired Air Force Major General Neil McCasland from his home on February 27 this year, NBC News reported.

According to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, McCasland put on his hiking boots, pocketing his wallet and a holstered .38-calibre revolver, and left the house, leaving behind his phone and glasses.

Burlison said the case had similarities to the other missing people.

“What’s really fascinating is the four individuals that stepped out of their home, left their phones behind, left their wallet, left everything behind and just completely disappeared and never came back,” he told NewsNation.

“That’s not something that a normal person does, and the fact that it happened within one year, you know, four people walked out of their home never to be seen again, all of which were working together on these projects for the Department of Defense, that’s very mysterious.”

However, McCasland’s wife disputed the idea that her husband was taken for his knowledge of defence projects.

She wrote on social media, it was “quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him”, adding McCasland retired about 13 years ago, NBC News reported.

Even the White House has been drawn into the mystery.

“No stone will be unturned in this effort, and the White House will provide updates when we have them,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X.

President Donald Trump told reporters last Thursday he hoped the deaths and disappearances were “random”, The Hill reported. Trump said more information was expected in the next week and a half.