Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Susan Collins urge Pentagon not to sideline Havana Syndrome research
Two senators — one Republican and one Democrat — warned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth against relocating and reducing resources for a Pentagon team charged with investigating so-called "Anomalous Health Incidents," or AHI, colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, arguing that such a move would undercut care for affected personnel and stall ongoing research.
In a letter sent to Hegseth on Monday, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire and Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine raised concerns about reported plans within the Department of Defense to shift the cross-functional team, known as a CFT, that coordinates the department's response to the Havana Syndrome out of its current position under the Office of the Under Secretary for Policy.
While the proposed change has been described internally as a bureaucratic reorganization, the senators cautioned that it could effectively sideline the team and weaken its ability to research the underlying cause and identify care for victims.
"We owe it to these personnel to continue to receive care while ongoing research is done on attribution and technology, which can only be done by the CFT in its current form," the senators wrote.
The Pentagon did not respond to a request for comment on whether it had any plans to relocate the CFT. The Washington Examiner first reported officials were considering moving the team from the portfolio of the under secretary of defense for policy to the under secretary of defense for research and engineering.
AHI refers to a suite of unexplained neurological symptoms first reported by American personnel in Havana, Cuba, beginning in 2016 and later elsewhere. Reported symptoms include intense headaches, dizziness and vertigo, ringing in the ears, nausea, vision problems and debilitating cognitive effects, according to multiple investigations.
There have been more than 1,500 reports of the condition over the past decade. An unclassified Government Accountability Office report previously identified 334 U.S. government personnel who sought care for AHI through the military health system as of 2024.
A senior congressional official told CBS News additional cases were reported during the first year of the second Trump administration, but declined to provide further details due to classification concerns. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security matters.
CBS News has reached out for comment to the Defense Health Agency, which manages medical assessments and treatments for AHI among servicemembers.
The CFT "has been a very important resource to the people in this cohort," the congressional official said, noting it serves as a "central repository" for victims to access care, navigate compensation claims through Havana Act legislation, discuss broader research into directed energy weapons, or even just have a place where their symptoms are taken seriously.
"Disbanding a carefully curated team of experts with decades of experience reeks of either incompetence or a cover-up," former CIA operations officer 'Adam,' who served in Havana, told CBS News. "If Secretary Hegseth knew what this would mean for the war fighter that he so adamantly wants to protect and care for, there's no way he would sign off."
The CFT was established in the FY2022 National Defense Authorization Act to centralize the department's response to AHI, which has affected hundreds of U.S. government personnel, including military service members, diplomats, and intelligence officers. Its mandate spans medical care, benefits processing under the Havana Act, research, and coordination with investigative elements examining potential causes.
A multi-year intelligence community assessment concluded in 2024 that a foreign adversary is "very unlikely" to be responsible for most reported AHIs, though some adjacent expert panels have suggested directed, pulsed electromagnetic energy as a plausible explanation for a subset of cases. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has been conducting a review of the intelligence community's previous investigations of the incidents, but it has not been made public.
CBS News previously reported the U.S. government quietly acquired a device in late 2024 that officials believe may be connected to AHIs. The Pentagon has been testing the device, which emits pulsed, radio-frequency energy, and contains Russian-made components, for more than a year.
Some lawmakers and affected personnel have criticized the intelligence community's prior conclusions and pressed for more rigorous investigation and transparency. In their letter, the senators noted the CFT had not been made available to provide briefings on its findings since 2024, which they said was "not only a violation of the law, but raises concerns over the motivations of some within your Department on continuing the CFT's important work."
The congressional official noted that the Defense Department has not lost interest at the leadership level. "When the CFT has briefed the Secretary…he has been receptive," but said other bureaucratic levels were less invested in — and even overtly opposed to — investigating the issue.
According to the letter, Hegseth, following his confirmation hearing last year, submitted written answers to the Senate Armed Services Committee committing to "fully support DoD facilities continuing to care for diplomats, intelligence professionals and other U.S. government employees suffering AHI symptoms."
The senators in their letter to Hegseth said any change to the CFT would "appear to be out of line with both your priorities and those of the President."