FBI Looks Into Dead or Missing Scientists Tied To Sensitive US Research (cnn.com) 85
Federal authorities are now reviewing a string of deaths and disappearances involving scientists tied to sensitive U.S. aerospace and nuclear work, though officials have not established any confirmed link between the cases. The FBI says it "is spearheading the effort to look for connections into the missing and deceased scientists," adding that it "is working with the Department of Energy, Department of War, and with our state ... and local law enforcement partners to find answers." The Republican-led House Oversight Committee also announced an investigation into the reports. CNN reports: A nuclear physicist and MIT professor fatally shot outside his Massachusetts residence. A retired Air Force general missing from his New Mexico home. An aerospace engineer who disappeared during a hike in Los Angeles. These are among at least 10 individuals connected to sensitive US nuclear and aerospace research who have died or disappeared in recent years, prompting concerns whether they are connected and fueling speculation online about the possibility of nefarious activity. [...]
The Defense Department said only that it would respond to the committee directly, and the Department of Energy referred questions to the White House. In a post on X, NASA said it is "coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies" in relation to the scientists. "At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat," NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said.
The cases vary widely in circumstance. Some involve unsolved homicides, while others are missing persons cases with no signs of foul play. In at least two instances, families have pointed to preexisting medical conditions or personal struggles as explanations. Authorities have not established any links between the cases. The White House said last week it is also working with federal agencies to probe any potential links between the deaths and disappearances, with President Donald Trump referring to the matter as "pretty serious stuff." "The United States has thousands of nuclear scientists and nuclear experts," said Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat who also serves on the Oversight Committee. "It's not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals."
Further reading: The 'Missing-Scientist' Story Is Unbelievably Dumb
The Defense Department said only that it would respond to the committee directly, and the Department of Energy referred questions to the White House. In a post on X, NASA said it is "coordinating and cooperating with the relevant agencies" in relation to the scientists. "At this time, nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat," NASA spokesperson Bethany Stevens said.
The cases vary widely in circumstance. Some involve unsolved homicides, while others are missing persons cases with no signs of foul play. In at least two instances, families have pointed to preexisting medical conditions or personal struggles as explanations. Authorities have not established any links between the cases. The White House said last week it is also working with federal agencies to probe any potential links between the deaths and disappearances, with President Donald Trump referring to the matter as "pretty serious stuff." "The United States has thousands of nuclear scientists and nuclear experts," said Rep. James Walkinshaw, a Democrat who also serves on the Oversight Committee. "It's not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals."
Further reading: The 'Missing-Scientist' Story Is Unbelievably Dumb
Nice (Score:5, Interesting)
Maybe they could include the case of openai whistleblower guy "suicide" in their investigation?
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Re: Nice (Score:2)
Which one, so many of them died I lost count?
Just asking questions... (Score:4, Funny)
Where was Hunter Biden when these events took place?
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But her emails.
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Where was Hunter Biden when these events took place?
The fact he was doing hookers and blow while showing off his large hog at the time has lost my vote for him as president.
Re:Just asking questions... (Score:4, Insightful)
The fact he was doing hookers and blow while showing off his large hog at the time has lost my vote for him as president.
As a non-american I thought this was a prerequisite to running for president in the USA....
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Yes, I prefer paedos and con-artists to the sort so people that do hookers and blow. I like to think I have some refinement in my choice of criminality when I choose a president.
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You must have mixed up with the requirements to be President of France:
* Félix Faure (1841-1899) -- suffered a heart attack in the Presidential palace while in action with his girlfriend; though had time to call his wife and kids for a last kiss.
* François Mitterrand (1916-1996) -- While married and a Presidential candidate, had a secret daughter (Mazarine Pingeot) with a secret girlfriend.
* Nicolas Sarkozy (1955-) -- married, divorced, married again before reaching President, divorces the second
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(Brigitte Trogneux). Still married.
I mean they later married and remained so, to date.
Re: Just asking questions... (Score:2)
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Don't forget the gun charge. Why haven't any republicans stood up for Hunter's second amendment rights? They admit that question on the federal firearm forms is unenforceable to begin with.
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He doesn't know
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Actually, no. The script is to note that Hunter got a what, was it $1700, or was it $1.5M loan from his father... and what about the TWO BILLION DOLLARS Jared Kushner got from Saudi Arabia?
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Ah, right back at yah (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Ah, right back at yah (Score:5, Informative)
I guess what the US does to scientists in countries like Iran is now, maybe, being done to its own scientists.. well, what goes around comes around..
You act like this is something new. American and European scientists have long been thought to be targeted by Russia, China and their allies worldwide. That includes a bunch of scientists corrupted by Russia during the 1950s and a bunch of SDI scientists who died in the 1980s (including one who committed "suicide" in a car filled with petrol containers). Think of the many Chinese origin scientists that got caught stealing secrets in the last decades.
What's different now is that the teams in the FBI and CIA that were responsible for monitoring Russia have been hugely reduced or shut down. Likely many of the attempts that got stopped before are now succeeding.
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"pretty serious stuff."
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Going back to the invasion of Georgia the US government had, overtly (I don't think the IC state department people every really pivoted), to a mostly adversarial relationship with the Russian state.
In the 20 years hence Russia has at various times sought to rehabilitate its image on the world stage thru negotiations like New-Start. The our government would have been able to leverage such events if convincing evidence existed. They did not, under Obama of all people they did not. Additionally Russia had no
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Some good analysis here, but two key things I think you miss
1) in investigations, ruling out alternative explanations is a key part - even if it's China the Russian analysts can be key.
2) Russia does lots of subcontracting for China; in fact the Ukraine war is effectively in some ways a China proxy war.
Both of these matter and mean that ignoring Russia entirely is a major mistake.
Re:Ah, right back at yah (Score:5, Informative)
Let's not forget that the head of the DoD and FBI are both drunkards. https://www.nbcnews.com/politi... [nbcnews.com]
Kash isn't even bright enough to realize the lawsuit discovery process is going to fuck him royally.
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Kash isn't even bright enough to realize the lawsuit discovery process is going to fuck him royally.
Filing a lawsuit against reporting facts is the way this administration's members tries to shut unflattering stories down. The judicial process for the case will take years, and by the time of discovery he will no longer be the director, so it will all just go away. Kash almost had to aggressively deny the reporting, as Trump has very limited tolerance for excessive drinking (he lost a brother to it). The prediction markets suggest Kash is among the next to be pushed out/leave and move to a made up priva
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the lawsuit discovery process is going to fuck him royally.
Discovery often goes both ways, which is why a lot of seemingly baseless things end in settlements anyway.
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Likely many of the attempts that got stopped before are now succeeding.
Much like recent backlash against routine vaccines, preventative care looks expensive until you slowly find out what the real costs are without it.
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*X-Files theme music intensifies*
Re: Ah, right back at yah (Score:2, Insightful)
Good for you that over here, you get to mock, ridicule and larp-activist to destroy the system without having to worry for a second what will happen to you!
Your beloved oh so righteous countries will absolutely not grant you any of those same rights, and dont even think about waving anything rainbow-like there.
So dont act as if this was a comparison on eye level. Not all countries are equal, and hate it as much as you want but the US has brought a lot of good into the world too, even Europe has seen the lon
Re: Ah, right back at yah (Score:4, Insightful)
Let's look at rights under the current administration. You can be shot on the street because some punk ICE agent doesn't like you. Or you can be moved to a concentration camp because you cannot prove citizenship and deported to a country you've never seen before. Or you can be targeted by the alleged Justice Dept. because you said la Presidenta was a disgusting child abuser or point out that he's Putin's Useful Idiot.
I could go on, but your beloved so righteous country is now become a haven for bigots, flim-flam artists, and run by a dementia patient. Tired of winning yet? No, well, then belly up to that gas station with a big smile on your face.
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And under every previous administration you could be shot on the street because some punk [agent/cop/random] doesn't like you, and it's always been difficult to pursue cops or any form of federal agent for unlawful shooting.
And in most countries of the world you can be detained and deported because you can't prove a legal right to be there. The stricter the enforcement (and the less desirable the country for illegal migration) the less cases you have. But if you switch from soft to strict enforcement you're
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Pointing out hypocrisy is not destroying anything. We pretend we're better but it's all the same at the end.
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Good for you that over here, you get to mock, ridicule and larp-activist to destroy the system without having to worry for a second what will happen to you! Your beloved oh so righteous countries will absolutely not grant you any of those same rights, and dont even think about waving anything rainbow-like there.
So dont act as if this was a comparison on eye level. Not all countries are equal, and hate it as much as you want but the US has brought a lot of good into the world too, even Europe has seen the longest peaceful period in its history under US hegemony.
Insightful, but you'll probably be modded to oblivion. I week or so ago, I asked a simple question. If the US disappeared tomorrow who would rise to the US once held. With an attempt engage if that would be better or worse.
I think only one person answered. The rest were just versions of "Trump sucks", "USA sucks".
It's the old adage, be careful what you wish for, because you might get it. The obvious answer to my question was China. I'm sure they will be gentle and peaceful to all. Or maybe not.
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Re: Ah, right back at yah (Score:1)
Yeah, I suspect this is just a statistical cluster that's unsurprising for the given population size and their base rate of risk for suicide, murder, and disappearance. Too, the numbers are somewhat inflated by the inclusion of administrators and even a secretary. Still kind of weird and worth investigating (because enemy action does exist), but ultimately it's probably going to be a nothingburger.
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Most of the deaths are explainable.
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Re: fadsf adsfadsf adsf (Score:1)
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Damned cat!
Three Body Problem..... (Score:2)
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It's a hypothesis, not a theory...
Removal of using 'theory' as a replacement for 'hypothesis' should be mandatory...
Re: Three Body Problem..... (Score:1)
It is at best a conjecture. Which is just half a tic above informed guess, and only a full tic above wild ass guess.
Hypothesis in the formal sense implies (or should imply) testability of some sort.
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Quick, move all the scientists into electrified rooms to avoid the sophons!
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China?
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Healthcare that doesn't cost thousands of dollars per month does sound temping.
Nuclear experts are getting whacked (Score:2)
Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are quire safe then.
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U.S.-Iran Negotiations Report
Ahmed from Pakistan: Welcome Iran delegation, please make yourselves comfortable in our bin Laden suite here at the Hotel Pak.
The Iranian delegation does just that.
Ahmed from Pakistan: Welcome U.S. delegation, please make yourselves comfortable in our Mr. P suite here at Hotel Pak.
The U.S. delegation does just that.
The Big Time arrives and both delegations are seated at a conference table.
Ahmed from Pakistan: Okay Gentleman, what brings y’all here?
Ahmed from Pakistan spent
It's a UFO story (Score:5, Interesting)
For those not familiar with the background to all of this, it's mostly a conspiracy theory that recently emerged with force from the UFO field.
It's not mentioned in the "real press", but the original claim was that all of these people were working on various bits of technology reverse engineered from UFOs. The MIB is cleaning up, although MIB in this case is a string of companies like Lockheed or even Raytheon.
The amusing thing is that the people on the list are not related. For instance, the "nuclear physicist and MIT professor" Loureiro worked on fusion projects at PPPL, and there is precisely zero mystery about his death, a disgruntled former colleague went nuts and shot him and other people. Yet he gets lumped into the story along with Hicks, a guy that studies asteroids, "independent researcher" Eskridge that published anti-gravity baloney, and Chavez, a construction foreman. Their only link is that the UFO hoi paloi seem to think these are related "because science".
Much of the basis for the claims of this being so strange has to do with the people simply disappearing from their home without various items like phones or wallets. This is positioned as something odd. However, this is precisely what a high school friend of mine did while suffering from mental illness, he simply walked out of the house in the middle of the winter in Canada without his prized pocket computer (this being the pre-phone era), wallet, keys or anything else, all neatly stacked on the table by the door. At the time I was told this is a common event in these cases.
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Conspiracy theories are soo much more fun than boring old reality.
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Most likely a combination of domestic problems, mental health issues (maybe*), random violence and a few anti-technology Ted Kaczynskis running around.
Most people with high level security clearances are watched by counter intelligence. Not always because they are untrustworthy, but they are targets for blackmail. Dead scientists do foreign adversaries no good. Same for missing scientists. They are best kept at their job, copying stuff.
*Mental health? Counter intel does make use of behavioral analysis reso
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it was the aliens (Score:2)
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nothing related to NASA indicates a national security threat
Makes sense. NASA poses no risk that humans will ever be able to leave this planet long term. Add SLS to that and the aliens are probably sitting back,eating popcorn.
It's just like a giant Kerbal Space Program game.
This is deeply disturbing... (Score:5, Funny)
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That's waaay too many to be coincidence - millions of people don't just die for random, explainable, and unconnected ways.
Maybe we could mitigate it with an increase in vaccinations, additional medical research funding, stronger workplace safety, environmental policies to reduce ri --- NAH, MAN. ALIENS. AND ISLAMIC COMMUNIST LIBERALS. CUT THAT NONSENSE OUT AND PUT IT INTO DEPT. OF WAR TO PREPARE FOR INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!
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Targeted individuals... (Score:5, Insightful)
"It's not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals."
Assuming you were trying to *kill* those 10 individuals to disrupt ongoing research, no it wouldn't make any significant difference.
But who's to say the missing individuals weren't kidnapped and taken somewhere? china? russia? iran?
Who's to say a foreign agent wasn't trying to recruit or kidnap individuals, and the dead ones represent failed attempts where they had to kill them to cover up their failed attempts?
One dead scientist doesn't make a huge amount of difference to the overall program, but one captured/defected scientist could spill a lot of secrets and significantly advance an enemy program.
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What's the population size that these 10 are extracted from? In an above post it's claimed that one was a guy that studies meteorites, and another was a nuclear physicist, so if the that's the range, it implies a pretty large population size.
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Rats, no mod points, but you are correct.
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"It's not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals."
Assuming you were trying to *kill* those 10 individuals to disrupt ongoing research, no it wouldn't make any significant difference.
But who's to say the missing individuals weren't kidnapped and taken somewhere? china? russia? iran?
Who's to say a foreign agent wasn't trying to recruit or kidnap individuals, and the dead ones represent failed attempts where they had to kill them to cover up their failed attempts?
One dead scientist doesn't make a huge amount of difference to the overall program, but one captured/defected scientist could spill a lot of secrets and significantly advance an enemy program.
"Who's to say it wasn't XYZ?" is classic random-conjecture/fantasy language.
The phrase is inherently vacuous. It doesn't even contain any meaningfully useful logic, because XYZ could be literally an infinite number of things without adding or subtracting any from the potential resolution of the question.
Who's to say they weren't harvested by Shiva?
Who's to say they weren't Raptured by Jesus?
Who's to say it wasn't Shiva pretending to be Jesus?
Who's to say it wasn't Loki pretending to be Shiva pretending to b
I don't have an opinion on the subject but (Score:2)
This sounds like a pretty normal number but...
"It's not the kind of nuclear program that potentially a foreign adversary could significantly impact by targeting 10 individuals."
Humans are not fungible, except superficially.
Maybe they'll find them.. (Score:2)
..at the bottom of a whiskey bottle.
It's where management seems to be focusing its efforts.
The ‘Missing-Scientist’ Story Is Unbel (Score:2)
“Which is all to say that another piece of flagrant nonsense has ascended to the highest levels of U.S. politics and media. To call it a conspiracy theory would be far too kind, because no comprehensive theory has been floated to explain the pattern of events. But then, even the phrase pattern of events is imprecise, because there is no pattern here at all. Given all the people who could have been roped into this narrative but weren’t, any hope of finding meaning falls away. Barring any dramatic
ho hum (Score:2)
How many scientists are there in these roles total?
What fraction of people in that age group go missing/die in any given 20 year period?
Who is John Galt? (Score:1)