The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is under congressional scrutiny following the charges against two of its scientists, Vincent Munster and Claude Kwe, for allegedly smuggling vials of the monkeypox virus and other biological samples into the United States. The charges were detailed in a letter shared with the Washington Examiner on June 16, 2026.
Munster and Kwe, both foreign nationals, were flagged at Detroit Metropolitan Airport in January after returning from the Republic of the Congo, where a monkeypox outbreak was occurring. They allegedly misled Customs and Border Protection officials about the contents of a large case they carried, claiming it contained diagnostics and testing equipment. However, federal agents discovered 113 vials inside Styrofoam coolers, of which 17 contained deactivated monkeypox virus, one contained the chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.
Munster, a Dutch citizen, served as the chief of virus ecology at the NIH's Rocky Mountain Laboratories in Montana, while Kwe, a citizen of Cameroon, worked as a research fellow in the virology lab. If convicted, they face a maximum sentence of five years in prison. NIH has terminated their access to its facilities and stated that the scientists acted independently.
In response to the incident, Republican leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee have requested information from NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya regarding the agency's oversight protocols and any prior knowledge of the scientists' activities. They have also asked for documentation related to the scientists' travel to Congo and any NIH-funded infectious disease research involving them. The committee has set a deadline for a written response and requested records by June 30.