Retired Air Force General With UFO Secrets Vanishes Near Albuquerque Home

A retired U.S. Air Force Major General who commanded some of the military's most sensitive research programs has been missing for nearly two weeks, prompting a multi-agency search that has drawn the FBI and sparked alarm among national security observers.

William Neil McCasland, 68, was last seen around 11 a.m. on or about February 27 near Quail Run Court NE in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He had stepped out of his home, apparently headed for a trail run, and left without his cellphone or watch. The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office issued a Silver Alert, a designation used when older adults with medical or cognitive conditions are believed to be at risk, citing unspecified medical concerns. Authorities say they do not know what McCasland was wearing or which direction he traveled.

The BCSO has been direct about the investigation's current scope. "There are no signs of any criminal activity such as a kidnapping or anything else," the sheriff's office said. "His disappearance is only being investigated as a missing person/Silver Alert at this time." Nevertheless, authorities have requested that hundreds of local residents submit home security footage as part of what has become a large-scale search. Tips can be submitted by texting BCSO to 847411 or calling the sheriff's Missing Persons Unit at (505) 468-7070. Kirtland Air Force Base, where McCasland once served, is coordinating with local authorities. Col. Justin Secrest, commander of the 377th Air Base Wing, said: "Our thoughts are with his family during this difficult time."

McCasland's career places him at the center of some of the most classified corners of American military research. Commissioned in 1979 after graduating from the U.S. Air Force Academy with a degree in astronautical engineering, he went on to command both the Phillips Research Site and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland. At Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, he managed a $2.2 billion science and technology portfolio and oversaw an additional $2.2 billion in customer-funded research and development. He also held roles connected to the National Reconnaissance Office.

It is Wright-Patterson that has drawn the most public speculation. The base is the former home of Project Blue Book, the military's official UFO investigation program, and multiple news outlets have described McCasland as deeply tied to classified aerospace and space-weapons programs.

Investigative journalist Ross Coulthart, host of the "Reality Check" podcast, has framed the disappearance in stark terms. "The timing is screechingly relevant," Coulthart said. "The fact that General Neil McCasland has disappeared off the face of the earth is a grave national security crisis for the United States of America. This is a man with some of the most sensitive secrets of the United States in his head." Coulthart also noted the absence of McCasland's phone and watch and asked pointedly: "Did he not want to be tracked?"

Coulthart's concerns carry a specific contextual edge. Days before McCasland was last seen, President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to begin identifying and releasing government files related to UFOs and unidentified aerial phenomena. Coulthart explicitly linked the timing of McCasland's disappearance to that announcement.

Law enforcement has not endorsed that framing. The investigation remains officially a missing persons case, and authorities are pressing the public for any information that might locate a 68-year-old man with significant medical concerns who simply walked out his front door and did not come back.