The House Oversight Committee has asked several federal agencies for briefings on the deaths and disappearances of at least 11 researchers connected to NASA, nuclear programs, and commercial space companies including SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) and Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.) sent letters to FBI Director Kash Patel, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. They requested staff-level briefings by April 27. Fortune magazine reported the outreach.
“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 said. The committee described the public accounts as unconfirmed and asked agencies what they know, what protections exist for people with access to sensitive research, and whether any pattern points to a security risk.
Comer said he does not believe the cases are coincidence. “Once you see the facts, it would suggest that something sinister could be happening and it would be a national security concern,” he said. He and Burlison want to determine whether there are missing links among the cases. “It’s very unlikely that this is a coincidence. Congress is very concerned about this. Our committee is making this one of our priorities now because we view this as a national security threat.”
The White House addressed the reports on April 15, when press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about them. “If true, of course, that’s definitely something I think this government and administration would deem worth looking into,” she said. Later that day, President Trump told reporters he hoped the cases were coincidence but called some of those involved “very important people.” He said he had just left a meeting on the subject and expected answers within about a week and a half. “Pretty serious stuff,” he added.
Leavitt later wrote on X that 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 that may exist,” and that “no stone will be unturned.”
On Sunday, Patel told Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo that the FBI is examining whether the cases share connections to classified access or foreign actors. “If there’s any connections that lead to nefarious conduct or conspiracy, this FBI will make the appropriate arrest,” he said. In a statement to Fortune, the FBI said it “is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists” and is working with the Department of Energy, the Department of War, and state and local law enforcement.
NASA pointed to an earlier statement on X: “NASA is coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies in relation to the missing scientists. At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat. The agency is committed to transparency and will provide more information as able.” SpaceX and Blue Origin did not comment in the Fortune account.
Public reporting cited by the committee traces the cluster of cases back several years. Among those named are former Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist Michael David Hicks, who died in 2023; Monica Reza, a former JPL materials-processing director who vanished while hiking in California in June 2025; and retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, who disappeared from his Albuquerque home in February 2026. Other names in the reporting include additional JPL affiliates, Los Alamos personnel, an MIT fusion researcher, a pharmaceutical researcher, and a contractor tied to nuclear-weapons component work. Fact-checkers have cautioned that the people were not all colleagues and that no official finding has established a single cause or conspiracy.
The inquiry is not limited to NASA or nuclear labs. It also covers the broader commercial space and defense sector in which several of the individuals worked. Planetary defense and related nuclear and aerospace specialties are relatively small fields, with a limited number of people focused on asteroid tracking, deflection modeling, and space-based detection.
In March 2026, Blue Origin introduced its NEO Hunter concept, a planetary-defense proposal developed with JPL and Caltech. Built around the company’s Blue Ring spacecraft, it includes ion-beam deflection and kinetic-impact options. Those techniques share engineering principles with missile detection and interception work, which is one reason the commercial space sector has drawn committee attention even though no confirmed link to the deaths or disappearances has been announced.
Agencies have not publicly confirmed a common thread. Officials have said the review is underway and that any finding of criminal or foreign activity would be pursued.
