A classified ODNI report concludes that the Biden administration's intelligence community ran a cover-up. The evidence linking Russia to Havana Syndrome is, according to multiple sources, already in hand. Tulsi Gabbard wants Americans to see it. The CIA is the obstacle.
A battle is brewing inside the U.S. intelligence community over explosive evidence that Russia may be behind the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" illness that has sickened hundreds of U.S. officials, as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard pushes to make the findings public after the Biden administration allegedly buried them.
Multiple sources familiar with the case told The Post that U.S. intelligence agencies internally concluded Moscow was responsible for the attacks dating back to 2016, but all declined to disclose the determination publicly. The government's official posture, maintained for years, was that a foreign adversary was an unlikely culprit. That posture, it now appears, was a choice, not a conclusion.
U.S. officials are also believed to have obtained at least one of the devices used in the incidents, former intelligence officials say, a potential smoking gun reported by CBS News' "60 Minutes." Victims of Havana Syndrome, so named because it was first reported by U.S. diplomats in Cuba, have reported the sudden onset of symptoms including vertigo, hearing loss, migraines, blindness, and cognitive impairment.
In a covert operation, American agents secretly purchased a miniaturized microwave weapon from a Russian criminal network for roughly $15 million, according to CBS. The purchase was part of a Pentagon-backed effort to better understand the mysterious attacks.
The device is not theoretical. It is not hypothetical. It has been tested.
According to sources, the microwave weapon obtained by agents in 2024 is man-portable, concealable, and uses relatively little power. The device doesn't look anything like a gun. It is silent and doesn't create heat the way a microwave oven would. The device, according to sources, is programmable for different scenarios and can be operated by remote control. The range of the beam is several hundred feet, and it can penetrate windows and drywall.
Tests on rats and sheep show injuries consistent with those seen in humans with Havana Syndrome. The weapon works. The science confirms it. The only thing still classified is who inside the U.S. government knew, when they knew it, and why they said otherwise.
The potential implications stunned senior national security officials who were briefed in the White House Situation Room in April 2025. Attendees left that meeting "white in the face," according to two sources in the room. They were told the illness may be caused by a signal-based technology capable of targeting brain tissue from a distance.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll later briefed Vice President JD Vance on the revelations, including allegations the technology's existence had been concealed while victims' symptoms were publicly downplayed, multiple sources told The Post.
For years, the men and women reporting these symptoms were called unreliable. The government's own official assessment declared it "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was responsible. A former CIA officer who worked on the agency's investigation into the incidents alleged the CIA's investigation essentially ended in 2022 and that it appeared to him his superiors wanted to push the conclusion that the injuries were psychosomatic, atmospheric, and environmental. He also said they made fun of the victims.
Let that sink in. Intelligence officers suffering brain damage were mocked by the agency sworn to protect them.
A classified report produced by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence criticizes the Biden administration's intelligence community for conducting a cover-up, according to a source who has seen the report. Its public release has so far been delayed.
Others say the biggest resistance to Gabbard is coming from the Central Intelligence Agency. Asked to respond, the CIA issued careful language:
Director Ratcliffe supports DNI Gabbard's efforts to review the AHI issue and looks forward to her report on this important matter.
That is not a denial. It is not a commitment to transparency. It is the language of an institution trying to appear cooperative while the clock runs out.
The investigators said Gabbard has been presented with a list of officials allegedly involved in a government cover-up. Investigators initially planned to offer implicated officials two weeks to come clean before suffering the loss of security clearances, termination, or even referrals for possible criminal prosecution.
Now, the process has stalled, with some of those in line to be named and shamed still holding senior positions at the CIA. "They have the people responsible, and they're not doing anything," a source said. "They have the list. They have the evidence. They just won't release it."
The 14-day amnesty window. The list. The evidence. All of it sitting in a drawer while the implicated officials continue drawing government salaries.
The first known victim of the illness, a CIA official forced into medical retirement and publicly identified only as "Adam," told The Post that a government investigator had contacted him regarding his experiences while employed at the agency and requested names of individuals who took part in the cover-up.
I've heard Tulsi's report is done. Hopefully Tulsi's team has identified the wrongdoers and will hold them accountable.
"Adam" was the first person documented to have been hit by this weapon. He lost his career to it. The agency he served dismissed him, downplayed him, and now the people who orchestrated that dismissal reportedly still hold positions of authority within that same agency.
Gabbard's office has not backed down. Her team's position is unambiguous:
Transparency and accountability is a top priority for the DNI. DNI Gabbard remains committed to sharing findings from ODNI's review with the American people.
This story is not complicated in its moral architecture. American officials, serving their country at diplomatic posts abroad, were targeted with a classified Russian weapon. They reported it. The CIA concluded internally that Moscow was responsible. Then the same CIA declined to say so publicly, closed its investigation in 2022, ridiculed the victims, and issued assessments designed to end the conversation rather than pursue the truth.
CBS News reported that Russia was the likely culprit, but some officials worry formally blaming Moscow could complicate delicate negotiations to end the Ukraine war and deepen economic ties with Russia, according to sources familiar with the discussions. In other words: geopolitical convenience may be yet another reason the report stays buried. Victims' lives, careers, and neurological function were subordinated to diplomatic optics.
That is not intelligence analysis. That is politics wearing a clearance badge.
Gabbard's report, by all accounts, is complete. The list of implicated officials exists. The evidence has been reviewed. The only remaining question is whether the institutional resistance inside the CIA succeeds in keeping it locked away.
The sources who spoke with "60 Minutes" said the classified mission to obtain the microwave weapon points to a troubling reality. They say there are likely many of these devices, and if undercover agents could purchase one from gangsters, then the Russians have lost control of a stealth weapon that could be used by anyone, anywhere.
The weapon is already out in the world. The cover-up has already done its damage. The only thing the CIA can still control is whether the people who ran it face any consequences.
Gabbard intends to make sure they do. The agency should get out of her way.
