Multiple U.S. scientists tied to sensitive aerospace and nuclear projects have died or disappeared since 2023, with the FBI and House Oversight Committee investigating at least 10 cases. Chinese scientists in defense and military fields including a drone expert, data scientist, and biomedical researcher have also died in recent years. However, the cases involve unrelated circumstances (natural death, homicide, suicide, disappearances), and experts including political scientists have disputed claims of a coordinated pattern, describing the belief as apophenia—seeing meaningful links in unrelated events. There is no evidence that the U.S. and China are engaged in scientist assassination campaigns.