A bipartisan group of senators is asking President Biden to raise the issue of directed-energy microwave attacks targeting U.S. diplomats, national security and CIA officials when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
During an interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, said that “[C]ertainly the Russians are one of the key suspects. We don’t know for sure, but keep in mind there have been more than a hundred American public servants who have been injured by these directed energy attacks. We need not only to take care of their medical needs, but also to find out who it is.” She continued by saying that she hopes the president will bring this up with Putin directly.
Collins, along with other members of the Senate Intelligence Committee, pushed a bill that would provide compensation for these diplomats and CIA agents affected by microwave attacks, known as “Havana Syndrome.” These microwave attacks were first noticed in Cuba five years ago, but since then they have been seen in Shanghai, Moscow and Washington, D.C.
The Senate bill will now go to the House and would amend the Central Intelligence Agency Act of 1949 to authorize “the provision of payment to personnel of the Central Intelligence Agency who incur qualifying injuries to the brain.” This would also apply to State Department personnel if they are subject to these attacks.
Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio, D-Va. and R-Fla., respectively, have said that these attacks are ongoing. The U.S. government believes that either Russia’s GRU or military intelligence is to blame.
