Laura Thomas

I know who's targeting American nuclear scientists. I work in nuclear security and I'm a former CIA officer. Ready? It's content creators. UFO promoters built the list. The Daily Mail packaged it. Joe Rogan amplified it. And every week a new name was added to keep it trending, regardless of whether the person had any connection to nuclear weapons. The actual data: 10 cases over 33 months. 4 have documented, non-mysterious causes of death. One was killed by a former classmate who committed a mass shooting at Brown University two days earlier and then killed himself. One died of cardiovascular disease. One was murdered during a random crime spree by a suspect who was caught. One was found deceased with no foul play suspected. Several others on the list aren't nuclear workers at all. The narrative counts NASA (not nuclear) workers, a pharmaceutical researcher, and a retired Air Force general as "connected to nuclear secrets" to inflate the number. Even accepting the broadest possible definition of who belongs on this list, the unsolved cases come to 5 people across a combined government research workforce of hundreds of thousands. Narrow it to verified nuclear security enterprise employees, and you're at 3 unsolved missing persons from a New Mexico nuclear workforce of 32,000+. One of those, police stated he left with a handgun and "may be a danger to himself." Another is a 78-year-old retiree. The FBI reported 533,936 missing person filings nationally in 2024. Over 93,000 remained unresolved at year end. Three cases from a population of 32,000 over nearly three years does not exceed what you'd expect from any comparably sized group of Americans, even before you account for the fact that these cases are centered in a state with one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. There are ~200,000 practicing dentists in America. If you went looking for ones who died unexpectedly or went missing over the past 33 months, you'd find them. You could frame it as a conspiracy against dentists. But we don't see headlines like "10 Dentists Dead or Missing." Pick any profession with 30,000+ workers. Search 33 months of obituaries and police reports and you'll find deaths and missing persons. Baseless claims like this meant for clicks can create negative effects on recruiting for high impact jobs in nuclear security. Plus the pain to the families. And it takes away from the real targeting of nuclear secrets and scientists that goes on from our adversaries. Every missing person case deserves an investigation. Don't be fooled and don't let viral content substitute for actual evidence.

I know who's targeting American nuclear scientists. I work in nuclear security and I'm a former CIA officer. Ready? It's content creators. UFO promoters built the list. The Daily Mail packaged it. Joe Rogan amplified it. And every week a new name was added to keep it trending, regardless of whether the person had any connection to nuclear weapons. The actual data: 10 cases over 33 months. 4 have documented, non-mysterious causes of death. One was killed by a former classmate who committed a mass shooting at Brown University two days earlier and then killed himself. One died of cardiovascular disease. One was murdered during a random crime spree by a suspect who was caught. One was found deceased with no foul play suspected. Several others on the list aren't nuclear workers at all. The narrative counts NASA (not nuclear) workers, a pharmaceutical researcher, and a retired Air Force general as "connected to nuclear secrets" to inflate the number. Even accepting the broadest possible definition of who belongs on this list, the unsolved cases come to 5 people across a combined government research workforce of hundreds of thousands. Narrow it to verified nuclear security enterprise employees, and you're at 3 unsolved missing persons from a New Mexico nuclear workforce of 32,000+. One of those, police stated he left with a handgun and "may be a danger to himself." Another is a 78-year-old retiree. The FBI reported 533,936 missing person filings nationally in 2024. Over 93,000 remained unresolved at year end. Three cases from a population of 32,000 over nearly three years does not exceed what you'd expect from any comparably sized group of Americans, even before you account for the fact that these cases are centered in a state with one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. There are ~200,000 practicing dentists in America. If you went looking for ones who died unexpectedly or went missing over the past 33 months, you'd find them. You could frame it as a conspiracy against dentists. But we don't see headlines like "10 Dentists Dead or Missing." Pick any profession with 30,000+ workers. Search 33 months of obituaries and police reports and you'll find deaths and missing persons. Baseless claims like this meant for clicks can create negative effects on recruiting for high impact jobs in nuclear security. Plus the pain to the families. And it takes away from the real targeting of nuclear secrets and scientists that goes on from our adversaries. Every missing person case deserves an investigation. Don't be fooled and don't let viral content substitute for actual evidence.

A NASA nuclear scientist was found deceased in his Tesla after colliding with a guardrail, leaving his body so burned that he was completely unrecognizable, according to a new report from Fox News. 29-year-old Joshua LeBlanc, who worked on nuclear propulsion projects, died in a fiery crash over the summer. His family at the time said they feared he had been abducted when he left his phone and wallet at home. According to Tesla Sentry Mode data, his vehicle sat at the Huntsville, Alabama, airport for four hours on the morning of his death. His car was found later that afternoon. Authorities have now told Fox News that the car collided with a guardrail before slamming into trees. It then burst into flames. His family said it was completely uncharacteristic for him not to communicate with them and that it was not part of his plan to travel west that day. LeBlanc had an impressive resume according to his LinkedIn profile. He worked at NASA for over 5 years. He was a team lead for NASA’s Space Nuclear Propulsion (SNP) Instrumentation and Control (I&C) Maturation. LeBlanc then became a team lead for NASA's Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operation (DRACO), a nuclear thermal propulsion engine, according to Fox. Video: KLFY News 10

I know who's targeting American nuclear scientists. I work in nuclear security and I'm a former CIA officer. Ready? It's content creators. UFO promoters built the list. The Daily Mail packaged it. Joe Rogan amplified it. And every week a new name was added to keep it trending, regardless of whether the person had any connection to nuclear weapons. The actual data: 10 cases over 33 months. 4 have documented, non-mysterious causes of death. One was killed by a former classmate who committed a mass shooting at Brown University two days earlier and then killed himself. One died of cardiovascular disease. One was murdered during a random crime spree by a suspect who was caught. One was found deceased with no foul play suspected. Several others on the list aren't nuclear workers at all. The narrative counts NASA (not nuclear) workers, a pharmaceutical researcher, and a retired Air Force general as "connected to nuclear secrets" to inflate the number. Even accepting the broadest possible definition of who belongs on this list, the unsolved cases come to 5 people across a combined government research workforce of hundreds of thousands. Narrow it to verified nuclear security enterprise employees, and you're at 3 unsolved missing persons from a New Mexico nuclear workforce of 32,000+. One of those, police stated he left with a handgun and "may be a danger to himself." Another is a 78-year-old retiree. The FBI reported 533,936 missing person filings nationally in 2024. Over 93,000 remained unresolved at year end. Three cases from a population of 32,000 over nearly three years does not exceed what you'd expect from any comparably sized group of Americans, even before you account for the fact that these cases are centered in a state with one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. There are ~200,000 practicing dentists in America. If you went looking for ones who died unexpectedly or went missing over the past 33 months, you'd find them. You could frame it as a conspiracy against dentists. But we don't see headlines like "10 Dentists Dead or Missing." Pick any profession with 30,000+ workers. Search 33 months of obituaries and police reports and you'll find deaths and missing persons. Baseless claims like this meant for clicks can create negative effects on recruiting for high impact jobs in nuclear security. Plus the pain to the families. And it takes away from the real targeting of nuclear secrets and scientists that goes on from our adversaries. Every missing person case deserves an investigation. Don't be fooled and don't let viral content substitute for actual evidence.

NEW: Rep. Eric Burlison suggests the missing or dead scientists who have been linked to UFO info may have been taken out by U.S. adversaries like Iran. Elizabeth Vargas: What country do you think could possibly be behind this? Burlison: I would not be surprised if our adversaries, China, Russia, Iran... saw an opportunity to take out some of our nation's top scientists. Give me a break.