One of Our Rocket Scientists Is Missing
The mysterious disappearance of Maj. Gen. Michael Neil McCasland, USAF (Ret.).
Almost three weeks have passed since the disappearance of Maj. Gen. Michael Neil McCasland, USAF (Ret.). Authorities continue to search for one of the nation’s leading astronautical engineers and defense technologists, last seen by his wife at their home in Albuquerque, New Mexico on Friday, February 27, 2026.
Dr. McCasland, 68, retired from the Air Force in 2013 after a distinguished 34-year career in which he led some of the most important scientific research and development facilities in the nation. He currently serves as technology director for Applied Technology Associates in Albuqueque.
Not So Routine Day
Susan McCaskill Wilkerson, Dr. McCasland’s spouse, also is a government physicist and a veteran USAF officer. Ms. Wilkerson saw her husband talking with a handyman who stopped by their home around 10:10 a.m. Mountain Savings Time. She then drove to a medical appointment . When she returned around noon, her husband was gone.
Susan Wilkerson called nearby friends and family to see if her husband had stopped in to visit with them. None had seen or heard from him. When Dr. McCasland had not returned by mid-afternoon, she reported him missing to police at 3:07 a.m.
Left behind were his prescription eyeglasses, cell phone and “wearable technology,” investigators reported. Missing from the home were his wallet and .38 caliber revolver with leather holster. The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office issued a “Silver Alert,” asking the public for support in locating a missing senior citizen.
Ms. Wilkerson told investigators that all seemed normal the morning of the disappearance. An avid outdoorsman, Dr. McCasland had no symptoms of illness or psychological distress, apart from reporting “brain fog” in recent days, police investigators reported Monday, March 17.
Dr. McCasland enjoys hiking, biking and exploring the wilderness near his home in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains, an area with hundreds of miles of trails and challenging terrain and wildlife. Carrying a handgun for protection from dangerous wildlife and predators, particularly when hiking solo, can be a prudent thing to do. In normal circumstances, he wouldn’t leave his phone behind, needing it for communication and navigation.
After a week, searchers discovered a gray sweatshirt emblazoned with “Air Force” across the front and stylized wings on the back about 1-and-a-quarter miles east of the McCasland home. An investigator from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said the item did not appear familiar to Ms. Wilkerson or other family members, so it is not know what, if any, connection it has to Dr. McCasland’s disappearance.
A 1979 graduate of the Air Force Academy, Dr. McCasland earned his doctorate in astronautical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988. His dissertation, “Sensor and Actuator Selection for Fault-Tolerant Control of Flexible Structures,” examined the systems and practices for controlling satellites in orbit. Here’s how the Hertz Foundation, who helped support Maj. Gen. McCasland during his PhD research, describes him:
Retired Major General Neil McCasland is director of technology at Applied Technology Associates.
There, he is responsible for technology identification and development across the range of ATA competencies and applications, and sets the vision and strategy for technology development in participation with the directors of strategic development and business development.
Previously, Neil served for 35 years on active duty in the U.S. Air Force, most recently as the commander of the Air Force Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in the grade of Major General. He is a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and an associate fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). He was commissioned in 1979 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a BS in astronautical engineering. Neil earned his PhD in astronautical engineering from the MIT, studying as a Hertz Fellow.
“Top Secret” Doesn’t Begin to Cover It Covertly
As an officer in the US armed forces, Maj. Gen. McCasland directed classified defense and space programs. In his career, he helped oversee and manage the U.S. Government’s most sensitive military and defense information. Dr. McCasland served as director of research at the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Wright-Patterson AFB has played a central and recurring role in the official and public study of Unidentified Flying Objects, home to Project Sign, Project Grudge and Project Blue Book. And since 1947, Wright-Patterson, proponents of UFO lore and eyewitness testimony, the Air Force may have housed wreckage from a crashed flying saucer recovered from Roswell, New Mexico, about 200 miles to the southeast from the McCasland home in Albuquerque.
While her husband had consulted with civilian UFO researchers, Ms. Wilkerson said she believes there is no reason to connect her husband’s disappearance with UFOs or UAP. However, the knowledge Dr. McCasland possesses would be of interest to most any government on earth. Specializing in astronautical engineering and advanced weaponry and defensive technologies, his knowledge as an astronautical and defense engineer would be of interest to most any intelligence agency off earth, as well.
An Air Force Scientist Vanished in 2025
Such a person is rare and remarkable. However, Dr. McCasland is not the first of the nation’s important space scientists to mysteriously disappear.
On June 22, 2025, Monica Jacinto Reza, 60, an aerospace engineer specializing in materials for rocket engines, disappeared while hiking with a friend in the Los Angeles National Forest. Ms. Reza had worked on a project directed by Dr. McCasland at Los Angeles Air Force Base.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department reported Ms. Reza was last seen “hiking near the Mount Waterman area” with a friend on the morning of June 22, in the San Bernardino Mountains in the Angeles National Forest.
Her hiking partner told investigators that all seemed well. They were hiking on the trail and he was about 30 feet ahead of Ms. Reza. She had smiled at him when he turned around. When he next turned around to check on her progress a short time later, she was gone. His immediate search and searches organized subsequently found no trace of her.
Daniella Segura of The Sacramento Bee reported the story in June 2025: 60-year-old vanishes on mountain hike in forest, CA cops say. Now a frantic search.
Authorities investigating the two cases, as yet, have made no mention of a connection between the two cases. Journalists at News Nation, however, reported the possible link between Dr. McCasland and Ms. Reza early this week.
One More Point
In Ian Fleming’s novel, Goldfinger, the title character observed that the best leaders are always on guard for what may seem at first sight accidental: “Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action.”
Please know people like Dr. McCasland and Ms. Reza are most rare. “Rocket Scientist” does not do justice to their knowledge, experience and judgment. Extraordinary people like them, and ordinary people of any age, are not supposed to just vanish.
While there is no known connection between the disappearances, speculation runs from unknown health issues and a desire to go underground to bad actors and our nation’s adversaries to the mysterious and unknown intelligences behind UAP.
If Dr. McCasland and Ms. Reza have been taken by an intelligent person or agency, from this world or any another universe or realm, it is my hope they read the following words:
You have in your custody two truly remarkable people. Please treat them — and any others you may have — as the special and missed individuals they are and release them to safety. They are the kind people who work to change the world for the better.