House Republicans request DHS explain reports of Biden admin’s purchase of ‘Havana Syndrome’ device

House Republicans are asking Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to explain reports about the Biden administration having purchased a device allegedly linked to “Havana Syndrome.”House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Andrew Garbarino led six subcommittee chairmen in sending a letter on Wednesday to Noem and her agency in which they ask for a detailed explanation of how the device was acquired, its cost, the results of the year-long testing period of the device and what specific analytical or operational purpose the department had for obtaining the device.
Havana Syndrome is a term given to health conditions reported by U.S. and Canadian government officials and their families starting in roughly 2016 that they say includes perceived loud sounds that result in months of symptoms such as dizziness, insomnia and headaches.
Still, the healthcare community does not recognize the syndrome as a medical illness, despite numerous studies. In addition, investigations have resulted in various theories about the cause – include directed-energy weapons and toxic chemicals – but consensus has been reached. Among those theories is a foreign actor or actors used such a device to harm the government officials. 
More recently, there has been at least one news report in which anonymous sources have alleged the federal government bought a backpack-sized device that allegedly contained Russian parts and that can emit pulsed radio frequencies potentially  capable of reproducing the effects described by syndrome victims. 
“While assessments from the Intelligence Community (IC) do not conclusively identify the factors causing [Anomalous Health Incidents] or any foreign actor responsible, an assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) presented a majority view concluding that it was ‘very unlikely’ that a foreign actor ‘used a novel weapon or prototype device to harm even a subset of the U.S. Government personnel,’ with five out of seven agencies agreeing with that assessment,” the letter reads.
“However, two agencies dissented from the majority view and assessed that there was a chance that foreign actors may have developed some sort of ‘novel weapon or prototype device’ that could have harmed U.S. personnel.”
The House Republicans also noted, “According to recent reporting, at the end of the Biden Administration, [Homeland Security Investigations] acquired a device in an undercover operation involving the expenditure of millions of dollars, some or all of which was allegedly sourced from funding provided by the Department of War.”
“The device in question is described as capable of producing pulsed radio waves and containing Russian components, though it is supposedly not entirely Russian in origin. Following HSI’s successful acquisition of the device, it was reportedly transferred to DoW, which spent more than a year testing the device and its capabilities,” the letter reads.
While it is unclear how much money was spent on acquiring the device or where it came from, the price was allegedly “in excess of ten million dollars,” the chairmen wrote.

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