NM - Retired Maj. Gen. William Neil McCasland, 68, who led Air Force Research Laboratory, Bernalillo County, 27 February 2026

[diggndeeperstill]

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[RedHaus]

People die or go missing in every profession every day. With this group, one by dementia, another by hiking, bad luck, whatever. How many restaurant employees have disappeared or ended up dead recently? Airline employees? Nurses? Truck drivers? Teachers? Machinists?

I don’t think there’s any reason to think these scientists are connected. This, and the UFO crap is just another distraction piece.

I agree completely! These incidents may not be a statistical anomaly.

Back to the case at hand. I still believe Neil committed suicide due to cognitive decline. IMO.

 

[Unalienable Rights]

I agree completely! These incidents may not be a statistical anomaly.

Back to the case at hand. I still believe Neil committed suicide due to cognitive decline. IMO.

I agree that suicide is the most likely explanation.

While not as likely, I also think there is a possibility that he set it up to look like a suicide.

 

[snarast]

I too have been wondering about whether this is a few or a lot. So I did some homework. Statistically, it seems this "group of 10" doesn't really tip the scale to indicate anything based on the numbers. Using broad strokes ....

* The US population is about 340M. The people who work for Dep of Defense is about 3M. That's 1% in round numbers.
* The number of people who go missing each year in the US is over 500K. The number still missing a year later is about 2K.
* So the DoD's share should be 1% of those numbers -- ie, by population averages, 5000 are likely to go missing each year, with 20 still missing a year later.
* We have 10 names or so here, but not all of them are missing, and few (if any) are missing more than a year. The connections are very iffy. Some of the 10 died for various reasons (not missing). And so far, there are ZERO instances where there is actual evidence of some sort of conspiracy connection - it's just separate cases of people dying or missing.

So whatever the number is, it is well below a statistical realm of an alarming quantity.

Thank you so much for number crunching - that's what I suspected.

Of course, the question is how high up in the hierarchy these scientists were. The fraction of people with the credentials of WNM are far fewer than 1% of the population. Unless I'm mistaken.

 

[KristopherKolumbo]

This is with all due respect, a humble opinion. Thank you.

Consider this suggestion that our common sense logic, as much as anything, helps keep certain truths hidden in the dark.

It's understandable sluethers & the general public seek answers which support their logic. Let's consider The Springfield 3 or Jon Benet. These are examples of cases which remain unsolved due to the truth not fitting investigating logic. For decades. Folks are desperate for answers which fit their logic and make some kind of sense. That's the evil of it, that it wants us to use our understanding and concept of good to explain what doesn't make sense. Concepts of good handicapped by our ideals, limited first hand knowledge, and the inclination to give the benefit of the doubt.

This group of specialized space talent meet their ends or go missing without explanation and it's in the shadow of the media spun success of Artemis II. And from what i saw these scientist's contributions & their current status were not part of that success story. We know the gov doesn't share everything but not acknowledging these people and their significance in that moment, and only after it's questioned in a WH briefing, is interesting and worthy of note.

This group of specialized space talent meet their ends or go missing without explanation and it happens on the watch of this administration, which now claims the FBI will investigate. The same FBI which redacted all the JE files.

Don't let it get twisted. This doesn't just boil down to aliens or self harm. The only alternative to self harm is not just "ufos". These truths are clearly something that exist outside of what our common sense logic works to frame. Something maybe not covered by occam's razor, which truth be told, can be a helpful tool but is not the source of all answers.

So often, the choice to believe in coincidences is a comfort zone which fails the search for answers, especially ones designed and working to stay hidden.

 

[SteveS]

Thank you so much for number crunching - that's what I suspected.

Of course, the question is how high up in the hierarchy these scientists were. The fraction of people with the credentials of WNM are far fewer than 1% of the population. Unless I'm mistaken.

FYI these aren't 10 people who are really connected in any group, other than they died or went missing (perhaps a suicide thing) and someone has decided to say they are "another one."

They aren't all scientists. They didnt work together. They weren't on a specific unified project.

Its all randomness, of people with some broad connection to DoD projects. VERY broadly defined. And those reacting imo are just not looking at the people very closely, to see there's little to no connection between them. It's VERY flimsy at best.

The mortality rate in the US each year is about 1% and the adjusted number is about 3/4 of that, so DoD related deaths as 1% of the population would be people dying in the 25000 per year range. Dying in many ways, for many reasons.

If you look at the list of these "connected" ones and their deaths, there's not a REAL connection linking this set, either in type of death, in being missing, or in job. These are not all scientists, much less nuclear scientists or UFO scientists. This is a very random group -- and an incredibly tiny one, in relative numbers -- being cobbled together with the flimsiest of supposed "connections" to try to advance a conspiracy narrative.

The missing will likely be found, because most are, over time. In the meantime, imo this is a giant overblown much ado about nothing.

 

[snarast]

FYI these aren't 10 people who are really connected in any group, other than they died or went missing (perhaps a suicide thing) and someone has decided to say they are "another one."

They aren't all scientists. They didnt work together. They weren't on a specific unified project.

Its all randomness, of people with some broad connection to DoD projects. VERY broadly defined. And those reacting imo are just not looking at the people very closely, to see there's little to no connection between them. It's VERY flimsy at best.

The mortality rate in the US each year is about 1% and the adjusted number is about 3/4 of that, so DoD related deaths as 1% of the population would be people dying in the 25000 per year range. Dying in many ways, for many reasons.

If you look at the list of these "connected" ones and their deaths, there's not a REAL connection linking this set, either in type of death, in being missing, or in job. These are not all scientists, much less nuclear scientists or UFO scientists. This is a very random group -- and an incredibly tiny one, in relative numbers -- being cobbled together with the flimsiest of supposed "connections" to try to advance a conspiracy narrative.

The missing will likely be found, because most are, over time. In the meantime, imo this is a giant overblown much ado about nothing.

Well, that seems pretty conclusive. Thank you for the research and astute analysis.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

The highest-profile person on the list arguably is retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William McCasland, who is said to have overseen classified government programs that intersected with “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAPs.

As the House Oversight Committee launches an investigation into the researcher disappearances and deaths, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., thinks adversaries, such as China, Russia or Iran, could be connected.

“I would not be surprised if our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran, or any other adversary saw an opportunity to take out some of our nation’s top scientists,” Burlison told NewsNation.

Burlison said he’s “worried for the rest of our nation’s scientists” as the disappearances and deaths receive renewed attention.

“These scientists are not hardened. They don’t have a security detail. So they would be a very easy target,” Burlison said of the missing and deceased researchers

https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/adversaries-missing-scientists-lawmaker/

 

[imstilla.grandma]

This case underscores the human tendency to see what we expect to see. Human beings are meaning-oriented creatures. The brain is wired to seek out patterns – an adaptation that helped our ancestors to detect predators stalking in tall grass. This poses problems for us today because the same mechanism works even when there are no patterns. Psychologists refer to this as apophenia: the tendency to see meaningful links in unrelated events. When this occurs in visual form, it is known as pareidolia: the tendency to see meaningful patterns in ambiguous stimuli. Examples include the famous "face" on Mars, which later turned out to be a mesa – a mound of shifting dust that, when photographed from a particular angle, looked like a human face. Other examples of this process include the image of Jesus on a corn chip or the face of the Virgin Mary on a grilled cheese sandwich. Another common example involves clouds. The human brain is programmed to look at fluffy white clouds on a partly sunny day and see images such as a horse’s head.

The problem is that our pattern-seeking tendency can occasionally get us into trouble, especially with real-world events. Once news reports and social mediapostings plant the idea that there has been a coordinated attack on American scientists, we have become primed to reinterpret random deaths and disappearances as suspicious and sinister. This is reinforced by "confirmation bias" — our tendency to notice evidence that supports our beliefs, while ignoring or downplaying evidence that does not.


As journalist Walter Lippmann once wrote: “Under certain conditions men respond as powerfully to fictions as they do to realities, and…in many cases they help to create the very fictions to which they respond.” Indeed, humans have a long history of deceiving themselves. When journalists, influencers, and members of Congress suggest that something sinister is afoot, they provide a lens through which otherwise ordinary deaths and disappearances become extraordinary.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/its-catching/202604/the-mystery-of-the-dead-and-missing-research-scientists

 

[imstilla.grandma]

A decorated veteran pilot, aerospace engineer and defense researcher was killed in a plane crash in South Carolina last week, raising questions about whether the incident is related to the deaths and disappearances of 11 scientists tied to nuclear and space research.

James “Tony” Moffatt, 60, was flying with his wife Leasa, 61, and sons Andrew, 30, and William, 28, when the plane crashed in a wooded area near the runway at Union County Airport in South Carolina on Friday, the Union County Coroner’s Office said.

The family from Huntsville, Alabama, was traveling from the Raleigh-Durham area of North Carolina to Huntsville, officials said, and had stopped in Union County, South Carolina to refuel.

The Union County Sheriff’s Office said the crash occurred around 6:30 p.m. The family was flying a Mooney M20 single-engine aircraft, the National Transportation Safety Board said.

NASA COORDINATING WITH RELEVANT AGENCIES IN MISSING SCIENTIST PROBE

Authorities have not yet released a cause of the crash as the NTSB and Federal Aviation Administration investigate the incident.

Moffatt is the latest scientist with ties to aerospace research and NASA to make headlines, with the deaths and disappearances of 11 individuals with similar backgrounds raising concerns.

His son, Andrew Moffatt, was also an up-and-coming researcher at the time of his death. The 30-year-old was a research engineer and scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville’s Research and Engineering Support Center, according to UAH.

The elder Moffatt earned a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech in 1988 and previously studied as an experimental test pilot in the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Following his 21-year military career, Moffatt worked as a payload and flight crew support specialist at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Astronaut Office, where he participated in 14 Space Shuttle ISS construction missions.

https://www.wfmd.com/2026/04/21/aerospace-defense-engineer-military-veteran-killed-in-plane-crash-with-family/

 

[imstilla.grandma]

Franc Milburn tells “Elizabeth Vargas Reports” that Amy Eskridge believed she was being targeted for her work in propulsion technology. She claimed she was being physically and psychologically attacked and provided pictures to him of her discolored hands.

Milburn says Eskridge also told him not to believe any reports that she’d killed herself if she turned up dead. Eskridge died on June 11, 2022, in Huntsville, Alabama. Her death was ruled a suicide from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.


“If you see any report that I killed myself, I most definitely did not. If you see any report that I overdosed myself, I most definitely did not. If you see any report that I killed anyone else, I most definitely did not,” Eskridge texted, according to a message shared by Milburn.

Recently, the 34-year-old was added to the highly publicized list of U.S. researchers and scientists with ties to aerospace or defense who have either died or gone missing in the past few years. Federal authorities are now looking into the cases.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/amy-eskridge-energy-weapon-attack/

 

[Katrinepa]

MSN

 

[Katrinepa]

The highest-profile person on the list arguably is retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William McCasland, who is said to have overseen classified government programs that intersected with “unidentified anomalous phenomena,” or UAPs.

As the House Oversight Committee launches an investigation into the researcher disappearances and deaths, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., thinks adversaries, such as China, Russia or Iran, could be connected.

“I would not be surprised if our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran, or any other adversary saw an opportunity to take out some of our nation’s top scientists,” Burlison told NewsNation.

Burlison said he’s “worried for the rest of our nation’s scientists” as the disappearances and deaths receive renewed attention.

“These scientists are not hardened. They don’t have a security detail. So they would be a very easy target,” Burlison said of the missing and deceased researchers

https://www.newsnationnow.com/missing/adversaries-missing-scientists-lawmaker/

Exactly. Some years ago, there were scientists 'stolen' from the US, by Russia/USSR, Germany, China???

 

[Katrinepa]

MSN

The disappearances and deaths of at least 10 scientists, researchers and staffers who worked on nuclear and space programs are raising alarms on Capitol Hill.

The big picture: The cases date back to at least 2023, but national security concerns prompted a <modsnip> investigation.

 

[Trino]

Exactly. Some years ago, there were scientists 'stolen' from the US, by Russia/USSR, Germany, China???

After WWII the US stole many German scientist, AND they put them to work on sensitive projects.

 

[Ontario Mom]

After WWII the US stole many German scientist, AND they put them to work on sensitive projects.

If you're referring to Project Paperclip (aka Project Overcast), they weren't stolen, they were hired by the US government. And not a single American civilian had any idea there were literal Nazis living among them on American soil. Classic governmental covert stuff. Although I really don't think anything like that has happened with this group of people.

jmo

 

[sds71]

The FBI indicated in a statement that Sullivan’s death could be under investigation along with the dozen other missing or dead US scientists.

“While we do not comment on specific incidents, the FBI is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists. We are working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state and local law enforcement partners to find answers,” the FBI said.

Would-be UFO whistleblower died of accidental drug overdose after agreeing to testify to Congress

The FBI indicated in a statement that Sullivan’s death could be under investigation along with the dozen other missing or dead US scientists.

nypost.com