Rep Burlison demands FBI probe after top US scientists vanish or turn up dead
House Oversight Committee member Eric Burlison is demanding the FBI get involved after a string of "disturbing" disappearances and deaths involving U.S. scientists and researchers with access to top-level secrets.
Burlison described the pattern as "too coincidental" to ignore after at least 10 researchers have gone missing or turned up dead in the last two years.
"This is a rattling call to pay attention to this issue and make sure that our nation's top scientists are safe and secure. This is too coincidental," the Missouri republican said Friday on "Fox & Friends."
"We have to be investigating this. We need to have our nation’s top investigators, the FBI and every agency looking into this matter," he added.
GOVERNMENT WITHHOLDING INFORMATION ON UFOS FROM THE PUBLIC, GOP REP SAYS
Burlison said his office first became aware of the trend last year when an individual scheduled to speak with him, Matthew Sullivan, died by suicide under what he described as suspicious circumstances. He said his office referred the case to the Office of the Inspector General and the FBI, which he said deemed it "credible and urgent."
The recent disappearance of retired Air Force Maj. Gen. William "Neil" McCasland in February was another wake-up call. McCasland had been involved in research on unidentified anomalous phenomena and held top roles in space research.
Authorities at the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office in New Mexico said he walked out of his home while his wife was out, leaving his phone behind but taking his wallet and a gun. McCasland’s wife wrote on Facebook that her husband retired years ago, and that it’s "quite unlikely that he was taken to extract very dated secrets from him."
MISSING RETIRED AIR FORCE GENERAL CONSULTED ON UFOS FOR BLINK-182'S TOM DELONGE
Still, Burlison said the number of cases warrants an investigation.
"What's really disturbing when you look back and reflect on it, you've got Monica Reza, you've got Anthony Chavez, you got Melissa Cassius and you have Steven Garcia, all of which, along with General McCasland, walked out of their homes," Burlison said.
MISSING GENERAL, SCIENTIST DEATHS TIED TO SECRET US WORK PROMPT WHITE HOUSE PROBE
"These are some of the most advanced scientists, researchers in our nation, some of the most important people for our nation's national security efforts, and they all just mysteriously disappeared," he added.
President Donald Trump addressed the disappearances this week but did not say whether he believes the cases are connected. He noted that he would know more soon, having just emerged from a briefing on the subject.
"Hopefully, I don't know, coincidence, if you want it, whatever you want to call it. But some of them were very important people, and we're [going to] look at it," Trump said.
