By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Friday, April 24, 2026The NASA logo is displayed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Oct. 15, 2025, in La Cañada Flintridge, California. Around 550 people, or over ten percent of the famed lab’s workforce, are being laid off as part of an ongoing reorganization following two rounds of large layoffs last year. Layoffs at the laboratory, which is funded by NASA and managed by CalTech, are not related to the federal government shutdown. | | Mario Tama/Getty Images
The disappearances and deaths of nearly a dozen scientists with ties to secretive U.S. scientific information have raised alarms about national security, prompting a House Oversight Committee investigation.
The string of deaths and disappearances began with the death of Michael David Hicks, who worked as a scientist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory from 1998 to 2022, according to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. At least 10 individuals so far who “had a connection to U.S. nuclear secrets or rocket technology” have gone missing or died in recent years.
The Trump administration has said the FBI and other federal agencies are also looking into the mysterious disappearances, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying they will “review all of the cases together and identify any potential commonalities that may exist.”
Here are three things to know about the disappearances and deaths of scientists connected to U.S. nuclear secrets and other sensitive scientific information.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
