Looking at that list, now approaching a dozen people, the key element here is not the profession but the specialties within the profession, Lawfare Project attorney Gerard Filitti told American Family Radio on Monday.
Since about 2023–2026, roughly 10–11 U.S. scientists and researchers — many tied to defense, aerospace, or classified work —have either gone missing or died under unusual circumstances.
The cases include disappearances, apparent suicides, accidents, and confirmed crimes — so they are not all the same type of incident.
The news hook, he reasoned, is not that the missing are scientists, but are their fields of study related? Those are questions that may be answered soon, Filitti told show host Jenna Ellis.
“I looked at this statistically, and there are over a million people who work in the similar field as these 11 missing people,” he said.
President Donald Trump has said he expects a clearer picture this week.
Among the missing, retired Air Force Gen. William “Neil” McCasland vanished in New Mexico in February; the FBI is involved in the search.
Monica Reza, a rocket scientist, disappeared while hiking in California in 2025 and has not been found.
Some scientists have died in clearly explained incidents — for example, a NASA-affiliated researcher was killed in a criminal case with a suspect arrested, indicating at least some cases are unrelated to any broader pattern.
The White House and federal agencies, including the FBI, are now reviewing the cases and looking for any links or patterns.
“So what we really need to look at, and what I think the authorities will closely look at, is whether the work that they were engaged in was related rather than the fields that they were in,” Filitti said.
Your father’s UFO is now a UAP
Last week, President Trump disclosed at a Turning Point USA event he had instructed Secretary of War Pete Hegseth to release government UFO files, stating the process is "well under way" and the first releases would come "very, very soon."
The modern lingo for UFO is Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP).
That announcement from the U.S. president came after President Trump signed an executive order in February to the federal government to declassify millions of UAP-related records.
Remarkably - or predictably depending on your level of cynicism - millions of files suddenly vanished just hours after Trump signed that executive order, according to The Daily Mail
More than 1,000 UAP cases remain unresolved, including incidents near military bases and a 2023 F-16 shootdown over Lake Huron.
Some of these incidents involve objects displaying sudden acceleration or movement patterns that do not align with known aircraft capabilities. In certain cases, there have been no visible propulsion systems, wings or exhaust trails, making them difficult to explain using current scientific understanding.
Despite this, authorities have repeatedly stated that there is no confirmed evidence linking these sightings to aerial life or extra-terrestrial technology, The Federal reports.
The high security clearances of the missing scientists adds to the drama.
“We know — this has been widely reported over the years — that there are active Chinese and Russian efforts within the United States to obtain intelligence. There have been reports that Chinese companies or individuals buy property near sensitive government facilities in an apparent attempt to intercept communications or spy on those facilities,” Filitti said.
This level of espionage isn’t new, and foreign adversaries have become very skilled at discerning U.S. secrets, much of it by infiltrating technology systems.
“So, this really does raise the stakes for our national security, and maybe this is the story that finally gets more attention on what foreign operatives are doing in the United States,” he said.
There’s still a lot of information that hasn’t reached the public domain.
“It’s hard to know whether this is unusual based on the information we’ve been given,” Gary Bauer, chairman of the Campaign for Working Families, told AFN.
But the national security angle is real, and it’s multi-pronged.
Threats may originate from overseas, but America’s enemies during the open borders of Joe Biden’s administration had plenty of opportunities to place their foot soldiers.
Not only about China, Russia, Iran
And the threats aren’t only from foreign governments, Bauer said.
“There could be radical leftist groups here in the United States that would be able to rationalize the killing of scientists that make America stronger or do research on nuclear power or related issues.”
The nation is better equipped to investigate the missing scientists and deal with national security concerns than it was during the Biden years, Bauer said.
“I’m glad this administration is in office because I trust them to get to the bottom of it. I had no such confidence the previous four years under Joe Biden.”
