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President Biden enacted a new government program on Friday to compensate CIA officers, State Department diplomats and other federal officials who suffered traumatic neurological injuries that the intelligence community has yet to discover , launched by assailants that she cannot yet identify.
Without ceremony and little public comment, Mr. Biden signed the Havana Act, authorizing Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and CIA Director William J. Burns to provide financial support to employees who have suffered injuries. brain damage. The act is named after what has become “Havana Syndrome,” a series of unexplained injuries whose victims were first identified five years ago at the United States Embassy in Cuba.
But Mr Biden’s silence about the new law – he issued a statement, but avoided a public ceremony in which he could be asked questions – was revealing. While some officials are convinced the syndrome is the result of attacks and that one or more rival powers are responsible, intelligence agencies have yet to draw firm conclusions, despite the appointment of several task forces to identify the cause and possible countermeasures.
There is a widely held belief, supported by a study from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, that the cause is directed energy, possibly microwaves, presumably targeted at embassies and residences. But even that is only the dominant theory, and although Russia is the prime suspect, it is hardly the only country with the technology to carry out such attacks. The CIA and the National Security Council have created an external panel with access to classified information to help find a cause.
“We are using all resources of the US government to provide first-class medical care and shed light on these incidents to those affected, including to determine the cause and who is responsible,” Biden said of the report. of the law. “Officials, intelligence agents, diplomats and military personnel around the world have been affected by abnormal health incidents,” Biden said, without using the word “attacks”.
Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, did not go into details on Friday when asked if the episodes posed a threat to the American public, or in particular to Americans traveling abroad. .
“We take every reported incident seriously and what we want to do is make sure our national security team uses all the resources at our disposal,” Psaki said. “Without attribution and an assessment of the root cause, I don’t want to go any further.”
The president’s signing came just as episodes appear to be increasing in frequency and some have become more brazen: A CIA officer traveling with Mr Burns to India several weeks ago has become the latest victim, in an incident that resonated inside the White House because its trips had not been made public, and because targeting a member of the CIA Director’s traveling team – if that is what happened – sounded particularly provocative.
The incident in India came after two dozen or more cases were reported in Vienna, which is home to three US embassies (two of which are linked to United Nations agencies), as well as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program. It is also the operating territory of spies around the world. And over the summer, Vice President Kamala Harris’s trip to Vietnam was delayed by several hours due to concerns over the incidents there.
The incidents led to a rare example of a bipartisan deal in a fiercely partisan Washington. The original bill was drafted by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine. Representative Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, guided the bill through the House, where it passed unanimously.
Ms Collins said she was increasingly convinced that an adversary was behind the incidents. “As we continue our efforts to support the victims, we must also redouble our whole-of-government approach to identify and stop the heartless adversary who is harming US personnel,” she said in a statement Friday.
Mark S. Zaid, a lawyer who represents multiple victims, said the legislation was “a good and necessary first step, but woefully flawed in many ways.”
The bill leaves it to CIA and State Department officials to determine who is covered and how much compensation they receive, meaning “it has the potential to create incredible inconsistencies between agencies as to how they deal with it, ”Mr. Zaid said. “This is the type of case that demands uniform standards across the federal government. Someone in the state should not be treated any differently from someone in the CIA ”
An administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity to disclose internal communications, said officials had standardized what they conceded to have been an ad hoc and uneven reporting process between agencies prior to entry. according to Mr Biden, and that the State Department issued guidelines over the summer assuring employees that they would receive the same standard of care as people from other agencies, including the CIA
Victim groups who pressed for their injuries to be recognized and compensated applauded the signing. Robyn Garfield, a Commerce Department official who was injured in China, said the next critical step was to ensure victims who could no longer work receive proper care.
Mr Garfield also said uniform diagnostic and treatment plans need to be adopted.
“For too long, too many of us have been treated as adversaries and not partners by our own agencies,” Garfield said.
Mark Lenzi, a State Department official who was also injured in China, said it was time for Congress to hold hearings, adding that there was more information collected by the government than lawmakers must examine.
“This Havana law legislation is crucial but is just a first step towards the help we should have received years ago to injured members of the US government and their families,” said Mr. Lenzi.
Ana Swanson contributed reports.
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