House Passes Bill to Help Officials With 'Havana Syndrome'

Politics|The House passes a measure to supply attraction for U.S. officials suffering from ‘Havana syndrome.’

• Sept. 21, 2021, 6:42 p.m. ET

The House overwhelmingly passed a measure Tuesday authorizing further enactment for U.S. officials who were injured successful a bid of mysterious episodes that caused traumatic encephalon injuries.

The Senate first passed the legislation, pushed by Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, connected June 7. Because the House voted connected that mentation of the bill, it volition present spell to President Biden to sign.

Passage comes arsenic the fig of incidents continues to grow. A C.I.A. serviceman traveling successful India with William J. Burns, the bureau director, was injured earlier this month, exhibiting symptoms accordant with the alleged Havana syndrome. The incidents could beryllium attacks by hostile quality services, but the United States has not drawn a decision astir what the precise origin is and who is responsible.

Officials judge that much than 200 radical could person been injured successful episodes. While microwave devices oregon different directed-energy instrumentality are a imaginable cause, medication and legislature officials person not determined the root of the injuries, which were archetypal observed successful Cuba and person travel to beryllium known arsenic Havana syndrome.

Since then, U.S. diplomats and C.I.A. officers person been injured successful China, Central Asian countries and Europe, including Vienna. At slightest 2 imaginable episodes successful the United States are being investigated, but officials are adjacent much unsure astir the circumstances.

“The fig is going up each the time,” said Representative Adam B. Schiff, Democrat of California and the president of the House Intelligence Committee, successful an interrogation this summer.

The measure was primitively expected to beryllium passed by the House successful July, but partisan procedural battles delayed the vote.

Mr. Biden supports the measure and legislature efforts to supply further enactment to victims, a elder medication authoritative said. In a July code to quality officers, Mr. Biden said his medication was making definite that radical affected successful the incidents “have the champion imaginable care.”

Some officials person pointed to Russia arsenic the astir apt culprit, which Moscow has repeatedly denied. Other officials judge multiple adversaries could beryllium responsible.

“From the descriptions that I’ve heard firsthand from immoderate of the victims, they seemed rather purposeful, rather deliberate and precise specific,” Mr. Schiff said. “And that’s suggestive of a overseas atrocious actor.”

But, helium added, “there is inactive overmuch much we don’t cognize astir this than we do.”

The measure volition guarantee that the Biden medication keeps Congress informed astir its probe and volition compensate victims for their injuries, Ms. Collins said.

“Far excessively galore ‘Havana syndrome’ victims person had to conflict the bureaucracy to person attraction for their debilitating injuries,” she said successful a statement. “For those victims, the Havana Act volition guarantee that they person the fiscal and aesculapian enactment that they deserve. It besides affirms our committedness to making definite that our authorities finds retired who is responsible.”

Some victims of the attacks said they person struggled to get the authorities to screen aesculapian costs for themselves and household members. Several praised the legislature action, including Mark Lenzi, a State Department information engineering serviceman who was injured successful China, from what immoderate officials judge was a pulsed microwave attack.

“This authorities is important for those of america astatine the State Department injured successful the enactment of work who, similar myself, person thousands of dollars of aesculapian bills that the State Department has refused to pay,” Mr. Lenzi said.

Mr. Burns, the C.I.A. director, has spoken publicly astir the value of discovering the origin of the episodes and has made a precedence of improving wellness attraction for affected bureau officers, including expanding entree to the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which has expertise successful treating encephalon injuries. But immoderate victims’ groups said the State Department had been slower to amended however it had handled cases.

Mr. Schiff said the authorities established criteria for attraction and compensation. It should besides prod the authorities to standardize the reporting and classification of the episodes.

While immoderate officials person said they are disquieted that radical experiencing symptoms unrelated to the Havana syndrome could question compensation oregon treatment, Mr. Schiff said helium was much disquieted astir giving attraction to radical who request treatment, and the measure errs connected the broadside of providing assistance.

“We privation to marque definite that everybody that’s been impacted by these anonymous incidents gets the wellness attraction that they need,” helium said. “So we privation it to beryllium broadly interpreted.”