Are foreign adversaries using high-tech equipment to target intelligence and military leaders as well as their families, creating long-term neurological symptoms? This has been the biggest question when discussing “Havana Syndrome” or, as it’s now known, anomalous health incidents. For years now, the U.S. intelligence community has told Americans that “mass hysteria” is the likely cause for this mysterious illness resulting in dizziness, vertigo, blurred vision, and more.
Since 2017, I have worked on investigating anomalous health incidents as part of my oversight duties on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. This effort accelerated significantly in the 118th Congress, when it was declared a formal committee investigation. During this investigation, the committee has collected an incredible amount of evidence which has led me to the conclusion we have been misled about anomalous health incidents. Some of this evidence came as a shock to me even after working this issue for seven years.
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I was also surprised by the intelligence community’s unwillingness to help with my investigation. After all, there are over 300 confirmed victims of anomalous health incidents, many of whom are members of the intelligence community themselves. These victims deserve answers and proper healthcare.
Much of the information documented by my subcommittee, which managed the investigation Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) authorized, remains highly classified. This includes information contained in a separate classified interim report being finalized by my team for the committee.
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While this report does not claim all anomalous health incident reports are explained, or even represent the same thing, it does document clear evidence of foreign adversaries being responsible for some anomalous health incidents; improper actions being taken that stifled investigative activities; information the intelligence community knew, but never previously provided to the committee; and the directed employment of highly irregular analytic processes to finished intelligence products, undermining the integrity of the intelligence provided to the Congress, the president, and the intelligence community workforce.
This is particularly the case with the March 1, 2023, intelligence community assessment on anomalous health incidents, for which the committee was able to obtain internal intelligence community communications detailing gravely troubling issues with its development and issuance.
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While the investigation continues, an interim summary of key findings is being released by the committee. This document is intended to communicate four key points.
First, contrary to the intelligence community’s claims, I do not believe all anomalous health incidents can be explained away or solely attributed to medical or environmental causes, as suggested by the publicly released March 2023 intelligence community assessment, given the fact that the intelligence community was in possession of diverse sets of information that led the investigation to find it increasingly likely some portion of anomalous health incident reports were the result of intentional actions of a foreign adversary or adversaries.
Second, the March 2023 intelligence community assessment catastrophically failed to meet the basic requirements of analytic integrity and objectivity.
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Third, the intelligence community attempted to stonewall this investigation, in one case dragging requested document production out over a full year, providing piles of miscellaneous open-source printed news articles or fully redacted pages. After weeks, and in some cases even months, of pressure from the committee, some of these redactions were eventually lifted revealing the information was found to be clearly relevant and in some cases unclassified.
Finally, the committee intends to continue its investigation into diverse aspects of this challenge in the 119th Congress. I hope this will include further public releases to ensure transparency for the American people, who depend on the committee to represent them in conducting oversight of the intelligence community.
To that end, it is my intent to pursue classification review for additional interim releases, as appropriate, to provide transparency into some of the unclassified aspects of the irregular Intelligence Community actions related to the March 2023 Intelligence Community assessment and medical-related processes during the 119th Congress. In the meantime, the classified committee report provides a road map for investigative areas moving forward to continue and, at some point in the future, complete this investigation.
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I’m confident the incoming administration will ensure the Intelligence Community cooperates fully with the investigation in the 119th Congress, to include providing all requested records to the committee. Congress and the executive branch must work together to address the anomalous health incidents challenge, as well as other intelligence issues illuminated by the investigation.
I have been clear with intelligence community leadership throughout this process that it is incumbent on us to maintain faith with the brave diplomats, intelligence officers, and military personnel whose duty places them and their families at risk. I thank those whom I have personally had the privilege to engage with, and the many who have engaged with my investigation team, for coming forward to assist in this investigation. This issue is complex, with no easy answers. We must get it right.
Rick Crawford represents Arkansas’s 1st Congressional District in the House of Representatives.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
