White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday she would check into reports that 10 American scientists have either gone missing or died since mid-2024, after Senior White House Correspondent Peter Doocy pressed her on whether the cases were being investigated.
Doocy asked whether anyone was looking into reports that the scientists had access to classified nuclear or aerospace material and whether the cases might be connected. Leavitt said she had seen the report, had not yet spoken with the relevant agencies, and would get back to him with an answer. She also said that if the report is accurate, the administration would consider it worth looking into.
The exchange put a fresh spotlight on a story that has circulated through outlets ranging from the Daily Mail to online sites such as The Liberty Line, but the underlying facts remain thin. Newsweek reported that Michael David Hicks, a longtime NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist involved in asteroid and comet research, died in 2023 with no public cause of death disclosed. Newsweek said his death marked the ninth case in a growing list of deaths or disappearances involving U.S. experts in advanced space, defense and nuclear fields in recent years.
That reporting has not produced a clear pattern. Authorities have not established any concrete connection among the cases, and there have been no public allegations of foul play in Hicks’ death. Still, the combination of missing scientists 2026 speculation, classified material and a White House promise to look into the matter has pushed the story beyond the margins of internet rumor and into the briefing room.
What happens next depends on whether the White House follows through on Leavitt’s promise and whether federal agencies see anything in the reports that merits a formal review. For now, the most important fact is that the administration has not dismissed the question; it has said it will ask.