Ten American scientists and senior officials with access to some of the country’s most closely guarded nuclear and space secrets have died or vanished without a trace since 2023, a pattern that has drawn growing public alarm and, this week, the attention of President Donald Trump.

Speaking to reporters Thursday, Trump addressed the case for the first time. “I just came out of a meeting on this,” he said, calling the situation “very serious.” He added, “I hope it’s random, but we’re going to know in the next week and a half. Some of them were very important people, and we’re going to look at it over the next short period.”

His remarks came a day after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed during a briefing on whether the intelligence community was examining a possible connection among the cases. Leavitt said she had not yet consulted the relevant agencies but would do so, and that if the reports were accurate, the administration would consider the matter worthy of investigation.

The delayed response has fueled public anger. Critics accuse the administration of failing to treat a potential national security threat with sufficient urgency, given that the individuals involved held access to information sought by U.S. rivals, particularly China, Russia and Iran. Republican Rep. Tim Burchett said citizens should not trust the government on the matter, arguing that the concentration of cases in these specific research fields cannot be coincidental.

The case gained broader attention about a month ago with the disappearance of retired Air Force Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68. He was last seen leaving his New Mexico home, leaving behind his phone, smart devices and glasses, and taking only a handgun. His wife told a 911 operator it appeared he was trying “not to be found.” McCasland previously oversaw the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, a site linked since the 1947 Roswell incident to rumors of extraterrestrial research. His disappearance has drawn heavy speculation from UFO researchers.

The circumstances mirror other cases. Steven Garcia, 48, a government contractor at a facility that produces roughly 80% of the non-nuclear components for U.S. nuclear weapons, vanished in August 2025 after leaving his New Mexico home with only a handgun, leaving behind his phone, wallet and keys.

Anthony Chavez, 79, and Melissa Casiazs, 54, an administrative secretary with high-level security clearance, both worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, one of the nation’s most critical nuclear sites. Both disappeared in 2025 in similar fashion, walking away on foot and leaving all belongings behind. Police have reported no leads since last year.

The list has continued to grow. Monica Jacinto Reza, 60, a group manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who worked on a space materials project funded by McCasland, disappeared during a trip with friends in California. Two other JPL scientists, Frank Maywald and Michael David Hicks, died under unclear circumstances. Hicks had worked on NASA’s DART asteroid deflection project. Pharmaceutical researcher Jason Thomas was found dead at the bottom of a Massachusetts lake in March after disappearing in December 2025.

At least two died violently. Astrophysicist Carl Grillmair, whose work was tied to the U.S. Air Force, and nuclear physicist Nuno Loureiro, who led a breakthrough in nuclear fusion energy, were both shot to death in their homes.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)