A “60 Minutes” report investigating mysterious brain injuries affecting U.S. officials and members of the intelligence community found they were likely caused by military-grade Russian-directed energy weapons.
Evidence unveiled for the first time indicates that Russian assets have targeted American operatives and their families with non-lethal acoustic weapons for more than a decade.
The segment followed a yearlong investigation by “60 Minutes,” The Insider and German news magazine Der Spiegel. A lead U.S. military investigator spoke to “60 Minutes” about the alleged use of directed-energy weapons systems by the Russian foreign military intelligence agency's (GRU) Unit 29155.
CBS News has more information on the espionage campaign behind the brain disease known as Havana Syndrome and why the U.S. government set an impossibly high burden of proof in its investigation:
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Army lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officials refer to as “anomalous health incidents,” said the bar for proof was set so high because the country doesn't want to face some very hard truths, like the existence of possible failures to protect Americans.
“Unfortunately I can't get into specifics, based on the classification,” Edgreen said. “But I can tell you at a very early stage, I started to focus on Moscow.”
A 2023 government report deemed it “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious brain injuries suffered by U.S. national security officials, yet more than 100 Americans have symptoms scientists say could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are frustrated that the government publicly doubts an adversary is targeting Americans. The ongoing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new evidence pointing toward Russia.
Last year's official government assessment did not mention that some intelligence agencies reported “low” or “moderate” confidence in its conclusion:
White House staff, CIA officers, FBI agents, and military officers and their families are among those who believe they were wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.
Edgreen stated that the GRU targeted top performing U.S. government officials.
“And consistently there was a Russia nexus,” Edgreen said. “There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia and done extremely well.”
During last year's NATO summit in Lithuania, a high-ranking Department of Defense official reportedly experienced a directed-energy attack.
Edgreen shared his perspective on the alleged incident: “It tells me that there are no barriers on what Moscow will do, on who they will attack and that if we don't face this head on, the problem is going to get worse.”
One FBI agent working in counterintelligence shared her experience as a victim of Havana Syndrome.
One of the most gravely injured officials identified the son of a Russian GRU commander as the man she saw in front of her house minutes after the attack.
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