Tulsi Gabbard rescinds Biden-era Havana Syndrome findings

Outgoing Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard rescinded two controversial Biden-era assessments Thursday that concluded the condition known as Havana Syndrome was unlikely to be the result of foreign adversaries attacking US personnel.The retracted Intelligence Community Assessments selectively excluded evidence and intelligence, mischaracterized sources “to suppress alternative analyses,” omitted key information related to source quality and relied on an “ethically flawed medical study,” Gabbard’s office said in a memo to congressional leaders. The two assessments – declassified versions of which were released in March 2023 and January 2025 – both concluded that a foreign adversary was “very unlikely” to be responsible for the anomalous health incidents (AHI) reported by hundreds of US intelligence and diplomatic personnel beginning in 2016.The assessments suggested pre-existing medical conditions, conventional illnesses and environmental factors could be to blame. In January, the Republican-led House Intelligence Committee had called on the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to retract the Biden-era findings amid mounting evidence that a microwave weapon may be responsible for the mysterious illness. “This is huge news for the AHI victim community, analytic integrity, and for the American people,” House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) wrote on X. “These flawed, fraudulent, and manufactured Intelligence Community Assessments (ICA) have caused significant harm to some of our nation’s bravest,” Crawford continued.The congressman charged that the assessments were “deliberately manufactured and used to discredit some of our nation’s bravest and impede their access to medical care.” “Today’s action by [Gabbard] is a glimmer of hope for our nation’s intelligence officers, service members, and diplomats stationed around the world who have defended this country in austere locations ...