Former CDC Director Robert Redfield said Friday on Newsmax that the two National Institutes of Health researchers recently charged with smuggling monkeypox had no legitimate excuse for bypassing federal import rules.

"Yeah, this is unfortunate," Redfield said.

"Clearly, these individuals chose not to follow the regulations on how we bring these substances into the United States, because there's a very straightforward way that they could bring these samples in," Redfield said.

The process is simple, Redfield explained on "American Agenda." "It's having them registered with an import license, usually from CDC."

Yet federal authorities say Vincent Munster, 53, a Dutch citizen and chief of the Virus Ecology Section at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory in Hamilton, Montana, and Claude Kwe, 38, a Cameroonian research fellow, attempted to bypass it entirely.

The two men were charged Tuesday with conspiracy to smuggle monkeypox and making false statements to federal law enforcement after arriving at Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Jan. 25, 2026, from Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, where a monkeypox outbreak was occurring.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found they were carrying a black plastic case containing 113 vials in Styrofoam coolers.

Testing of 20 vials revealed that 17 contained inactivated monkeypox virus, 1 contained inactivated chickenpox virus, and two contained human DNA.

Redfield said what angered him most was the apparent attitude among some researchers that rule-breaking was routine.

"It was disappointing to me when I heard one of the scientists say he didn't know what the problem was, they do this all the time," he said.

"Well, they're not supposed to be doing this all the time," Redfield said.

Redfield speculated the researchers were collecting samples for laboratory diagnostics work at NIH.

"I think they were collecting samples that they wanted to use for diagnostics back in their labs at NIH."

But intent, Redfield said, does not excuse procedure.

"But there is a proper way to do this, and unfortunately, they didn't do this properly," he said.

Both men work at a Biosafety Level 4 laboratory, the highest containment standard for research on dangerous pathogens.

Yet Redfield said they compounded their regulatory failure by deceiving border agents.

"And in addition to that, they didn't tell the truth to the people at the border about these samples," he said.

The cumulative effect, Redfield concluded, was a troubling breach of scientific standards.

"So this is really a total lack of appreciation and rigor for the requirements on how we do this."

Each man faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

The FBI Detroit Field Office is leading the investigation.

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