By Betsy Woodruff Swan, Andrew Desiderio, Lara Seligman and Erin Banco
The Pentagon has briefed top lawmakers on intelligence surrounding suspected directed-energy attacks against U.S. troops, and officials identified Russia as a likely culprit, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The Defense Department had been investigating the incidents, including those targeting its personnel around the world, since last year, according to four former national security officials directly involved in the probe.
Pentagon officials informed at least two key groups of lawmakers earlier this year, in written form and in-person, about the investigation. POLITICO spoke with congressional officials who were briefed on the suspected attacks as part of their oversight duties of the Pentagon.
The briefings included information about injuries sustained by U.S. troops in Syria, the people said. The investigation includes one incident in Syria in the fall of 2020 in which several troops developed flu-like symptoms, two people familiar with the Pentagon probe said. After this article was published, Gen. Frank McKenzie, head of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that he has seen “no evidence” of such attacks against U.S. troops in the Middle East.
The incidents of suspected directed-energy attacks by Russia on Americans abroad became so concerning that the Pentagons office of special operations and low-intensity conflict began investigating last year, according to two former national security officials involved in the effort. Its unclear exactly how many troops were injured, or the extent of their injuries.
The investigation is part of a broader effort to look into directed-energy attacks on U.S. officials across multiple agencies in recent years. Since late 2016, close to 50 officials have reported symptoms of a mysterious illness that became known as Havana syndrome among U.S. diplomats posted in Cuba. Symptoms included acute ringing and pressure in the ears, as well as loss of hearing and balance, fatigue and residual headaches. Some victims have suffered long-term brain damage.
Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA officer, was in Moscow in 2017 when he was suddenly stricken.
I was woken up in the middle of the night with an incredible case of vertigo, Mr Polymeropoulos told The Guardian. My head was spinning, incredible nausea, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom and throw up. It was just a terrifying moment for me. I had tinnitus which was ringing in my ears, and the vertigo was really what was incredibly debilitating and I really wasnt sure what was happening. I couldnt stand up. I was falling over.
Four years later, Mr Polymeropoulos says his headache still hasnt stopped. In 2019, he retired from the CIA because of his symptoms.
There have also been suspected attacks on U.S. soil. In 2019, a White House staffer reported being stricken with the Havana symptoms while walking her dog in Arlington, Virginia. And in November 2020, Defense officials have now told members of Congress, a suspected attack sickened a National Security Council official near DCs Ellipse park within walking distance of the White House.
Directed-energy attacks on U.S. spies and diplomats are well-documented; the CIA recently set up its own task force to look into the issue. But the recent Pentagon effort to look into similar incidents affecting U.S. troops has not previously been reported.
Circumstances surrounding these incidents are murky, and U.S. officials have encountered difficulties in attributing the suspected attacks to any particular weapon or country.
A directed-energy attack uses highly concentrated electromagnetic energy, including high-powered radio frequency or microwave devices and particle beams, to harm a target. The attacks can take different forms, from jamming electronic equipment to causing pain or permanent injuries.
A report commissioned by the State Department and released in December pointed to directed, pulsed radio-frequency energy as the most probable cause for the Havana syndrome incidents.
The members of Congress privy to top-secret intelligence, known as the Gang of Eight, were notified about Russias suspected targeting of Americans in Syria using directed energy, according to the two people with direct knowledge of the matter. The Senate Armed Services Committee was also briefed, the people said.
The congressional officials briefed on the incidents said the Pentagon believes that the nature of the directed-energy attacks is similar to those carried out against Americans in Cuba, but was hesitant to draw direct parallels.
The alleged attacks prompted a Pentagon investigation, and officials there came to believe Russia was responsible for the attacks. But a formal attribution can be complicated, as the symptoms of injuries related to directed energy could also have a variety of other causes. Another major challenge is that officials cant always track the devices, which can be small and portable, the people said.
Jeffrey Lewis, a professor at the Middlebury Institute who focuses on technology and national security, said the topic can be troublesome from an intelligence standpoint.
The problem is and I think we saw this at the embassy in Cuba, but honestly with a lot of these stories over the years its just really hard to know why people are getting sick unless you have the weapon or some technical means of knowing if theres a particular beam being focused on a place, he said.
We still have no idea what the hell is going on at the embassy in Cuba, he added. Those people have been reporting all those symptoms for years and the question is, are they being targeted? Is this some eavesdropping equipment thats having an effect on them? You just dont know.
But any public statements on this topic from the U.S. government would also generate skepticism. Phil Coyle, former director of the Office of Operational Test and Evaluation at the Pentagon, urged caution.
It seems far-fetched to me harder to do by far than just killing American soldiers with bombs or bullets, Coyle said. The advantage, of course, of some imaginary weapon is maybe there would be no attribution. Nobody would be able to tell, which I guess is the situation youre describing in Syria. All we know is these soldiers got sick, and we dont know whether its food poisoning or something else that made them sick, so we cant blame the Russians. And that of course was part of the problem in … Cuba.