The 27 April congressional deadline for four US federal agencies to brief lawmakers on a string of dead and missing scientists has passed, leaving 13 families with no formal answers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Energy, or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Only the renamed Department of War (DoW), formerly the Department of Defense, has substantively replied. Its position is that 'there are no active national security investigations of any reported missing person who was a current or former clearance holder involved in special access programs.'
That single sentence has sharpened, rather than settled, the argument now playing out on Capitol Hill.
House Oversight Chairman James Comer of Kentucky and Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison of Missouriwrote on 20 Aprilto FBI Director Kash Patel, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, asking for briefings on at least 11 nuclear, rocket, and aerospace personnel who have died or vanished since 2023.
Comer and Burlison told the Pentagon its early answer 'leaves the Committee with many unanswered questions.' Their letter signalled that subpoenas remain possible if the other agencies fail to engage.
The FBI says publicly it is 'spearheading the effort to look for connections,' and Patel told Fox News the bureau would make arrests if any 'nefarious conduct or conspiracy' is found. Yet no on-the-record account of what the bureau told Congress has surfaced.
NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said on X that 'nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat,' and the agency is cooperating with relevant investigators.
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.https://t.co/92dTXGAxQn
The list watched by the committee now stands at 13, clustered in two regions. New Mexico hosts Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia, and Kirtland Air Force Base. California hosts NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and Caltech.
Three former JPL researchers, Michael David Hicks, Frank Maiwald, and Monica Reza, are among the dead or missing. Caltech astrophysicist Carl Grillmair was shot dead on his porch in February. Nuclear-fusion physicist Nuno Loureiro was killed at his Massachusetts home last December.
Source: International Business Times UK
