Congress hears testimony on Russia’s sonic attacks on US officials in Havana | US News

Russia has “attacked and neutralized” dozens of U.S. intelligence agents in recent years in a covert global operation using sonic weapons, a House committee heard Wednesday as it looked into the mysterious phenomenon known as Havana syndrome.

The panel heard from experts that Russia had “the motive, means and ability” to carry out the attacks on U.S. diplomats and other government employees at embassies and other government outposts, which left many with debilitating or career-ending brain injuries and hearing loss.

“This is a global campaign, and it is focused on targeting the best of our people,” said Greg Edgreen, a retired Army officer whose company, founded by combat veterans and intelligence experts, works with survivors of abnormal health events (AHIs).

“The impact has been that mission-critical government officials working abroad and domestically are being removed from their posts. America’s top men and women in national security are being targeted and neutralized.”

A comprehensive investigation released last month by a coalition of media companies concluded that an elite Russian intelligence and assassination unit was likely responsible, contradicting an earlier government assessment that no foreign adversary was involved.

Wednesday’s hearing of the House Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement and Intelligence was convened to investigate the incidents. The chairman, Texas Republican Congressman August Pfluger, appeared to question the authorities’ conclusion.

“Since 2014, several U.S. diplomatic military and intelligence personnel and their families have reported serious medical symptoms that have affected their hearing and sensory motor skills,” he said.

“It is of the utmost importance that we recognize the seriousness of the situation.”

The meeting also heard testimony from Christo Grozev, the lead author of the report published by Insider, 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel after a year-long investigation.

“The totality of the evidence uncovered by our team has demonstrated that Russia has the motive, means and ability to develop and use non-lethal acoustic or electromagnetic wave weapons against members of the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement community,” he said.

Members of the Russian GRU’s Unit 29155, which has been linked to the development and use of sound weapons, were “present at locations and times in at least four cases that immediately preceded or coincided with incidents in northern Havana,” he added .

“These results do not represent conclusive evidence, but rather a very plausible operational theory about the existence, origin and culprits behind the AHIs,” Grozev said.

“I expect that the US intelligence community will provide alternative explanations as to why these people, who are known to only engage in kinetic operations, assassinations, poisonings and never intelligence gathering, are in the wrong place at the wrong time place if they continue to believe in it. “None of this can be attributed to a foreign enemy.”

Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents more than two dozen people who say they fell victim to Havana syndrome during U.S. missions in Cuba, China and several European countries, told the panel the impact of the attacks was far-reaching.

“The victims are not only selfless officers, but also their spouses, children, including infants, and even pets,” he said.

“The vast majority of evidence on AHIs is hidden behind secret walls. “(It) would lead reasonable people to conclude that a foreign adversary or adversaries were behind at least some of these incidents and that numerous federal agencies have failed to conduct comprehensive investigations.”

Following the Insider report, a bipartisan group of senators wrote to Joe Biden last month calling for a “reassessment” of the evidence for Havana Syndrome.

Seven different government agencies spent several years investigating the phenomenon, which was first reported in 2016 by diplomats in the Cuban capital complaining of brain injuries, hearing loss, dizziness and strange auditory sensations.

Five of the agencies concluded that it was “very unlikely” that foreign actors were involved. But reports continued to pile up, including the U.S. Department of Defense revealing last month that a senior official attending a 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, had similar symptoms.

A possible subject of investigation for a new assessment is the arrest and subsequent deportation in 2020 of a Russian spy who worked as a cook in Russia restaurants in New York and Washington and was interrogated by an FBI agent who later came to Havana Syndrome.

In 2021, Congress passed the Havana Act, which authorizes the State Department, CIA and other government agencies to make payments to employees and their families affected during operations.