U.S. Sen. Susan Collins said she has been in talks with Senate Intelligence Committee leaders about pursuing “urgent” information revealed in a “60 Minutes” report linking Russia to potential “Havana syndrome” attacks on American officials.
The new findings from a five-year investigation between the CBS newsmagazine, Der Spiegel and The Insider suggested a Russian military unit has been behind cases of a mysterious illness affecting CIA, FBI, White House and military personnel, including a “high-level” Defense Department official who became ill during last year’s NATO summit in Lithuania.
The condition became known as “Havana syndrome” after the first reports of American officials falling ill were documented in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in the Cuban capital. Symptoms of what the U.S. government calls “anomalous health incidents” have included dizziness, extreme headaches, ear pain and nausea.
The CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence have said foreign powers were not likely behind the mysterious illnesses, but the new report that aired Sunday evening on “60 Minutes” focused on evidence and witnesses linking the neurological symptoms to the Russian unit and a “directed energy” weapon.
Collins, a Maine Republican who has been skeptical of the government’s past findings, said Monday she has been in touch with two Senate Intelligence Committee peers — Sens. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and Marco Rubio, R-Florida, the chair and ranking member, respectively.
Those conversations revolved around “the urgent need to pursue the new investigative information in the ‘60 Minutes’ report,” Collins said in a statement.
Collins wrote the bill that President Joe Biden signed in 2021 that reportedly gave around $100,000 to $200,000 to current and former State Department personnel and their families who suffered “Havana syndrome” injuries. She also authored provisions in national defense spending bills to continue that compensation and require reports to Congress on similar incidents.
“As the author of the law that gives compensation to the victims, I have always believed it was likely that these terrible, and often disabling, symptoms were the results of a new directed energy weapon or collateral damage from a device intended to steal data from the phones and computers of our intelligence, military and diplomatic personnel,” Collins said.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence told “60 Minutes” it continues “to closely examine anomalous health incidents,” and the FBI called the cases a “top priority,” while Russian officials have not commented on the latest report.
