HAMILTON, Mont. — The Department of Justice charged two researchers from the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox into the United States and making false statements to federal law enforcement, U.S. Senator Tim Sheehy announced.
The two researchers charged were Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, both foreign nationals working at the National Institutes of Health facility in Hamilton. The charges followed a whistleblower complaint alleging misconduct at the laboratory and came one week after Sheehy sent a letter to Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General T. March Bell urging a thorough investigation into RML’s safety, security, and personnel management practices, as well as NIH’s protocols for employees under investigation.
Sheehy said the Justice Department’s action validated his call for federal oversight of the Hamilton facility, arguing that allowing foreign nationals to smuggle dangerous viruses into the country posed a direct threat to public safety and to Montanans living near the laboratory. He said the two scientists lied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and betrayed the public trust, and pledged to continue pressing for answers on behalf of Montana families.
The Rocky Mountain Laboratory is a federal biomedical research facility operated by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a division of NIH. It is one of the few facilities in the United States equipped to handle dangerous pathogens at the highest biosafety levels.