On Jan. 1, 2020, the 504th Parachute Regiment, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, was deployed and responded to an Army airfield in North Carolina in response to an incident in Iraq.
Since last year, the U.S. Department of Defense has been investigating “directed pulse energy” attacks. In a presentation to the House Armed Services Committee this week, Defense Department officials warned of the growing threat of “directed radio frequency” attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East and elsewhere, pointing to Communist China and Russia as possible culprits.
The House Armed Services Committee held a briefing on Wednesday, Politico reported Thursday, 22. Committee members heard from Jennifer Walsh, acting policy director of the Defense Department, and Griffin Decker, director of the Emerging Threats and Capabilities Group. An official notice obtained by The Politico described the briefing as critical and said it was centered on “emerging threats.”
Defense Department officials at Wednesday’s briefing told lawmakers that suspected directed-energy radio frequency attacks on U.S. military personnel are growing worldwide and that they are very concerned about the increasing frequency of directed-energy attacks, with particular concern for U.S. troops in the U.S. Central Command area of operations who are vulnerable to attacks, including combat zones in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Officials said it is not certain who is behind these attacks, but noted that the source of the technology needed for such attacks could be Russia or the Chinese Communist Party.
Rep. Jim Banks, an Indiana Republican who is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, did not comment on the briefing, but said the U.S. government is not doing enough to protect its own personnel from directed energy attacks.
Banks told Politico, “This issue was raised as a major issue many times in our task force last year, but we did very little to address it. We didn’t take it seriously as a threat.”
“It’s absolutely critical that we find out who did it,” Banks said in the interview, adding that “the idea of ignoring it completely is no longer acceptable.”
Since late 2016, U.S. diplomats in Cuba, China and Russia have suffered from the mysterious illness, Havana syndrome, with symptoms including acute tinnitus and ear pressure, as well as loss of hearing and balance, fatigue and lingering headaches. Some victims have also suffered long-term brain damage.
Scientific studies have found that the most likely cause is their exposure to a directed pulse of radiofrequency energy, which includes microwave radiation that can cause serious damage to human health.
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