Department of War tells Oversight Committee 'no active national security investigations' of missing scientists

Around 16 April 2026, House Oversight Committee staff contacted the Department of War seeking information on the missing and dead scientists then numbering eleven names. The Department of War responded that there are 'no active national security investigations' of any reported missing person who was a current or former DoW clearance holder and involved in special access programmes. Chairman James Comer and Subcommittee Chairman Eric Burlison wrote back stating that the answer 'leaves the Committee with many unanswered questions'. The exchange triggered the formal 20 April letters from Comer and Burlison to FBI Director Kash Patel, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, demanding staff-level briefings by 27 April. The DoW response is significant for what it does and does not say: it confirms that no current Department of War national security investigation is open on the listed individuals, but it neither confirms nor denies that any of those individuals were ever clearance holders or special access programme participants. The narrow phrasing of the response is reflected verbatim in the Comer and Burlison 20 April letter to Hegseth and is a matter of record on the Oversight Committee's public docket.