Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. WARNER. Madam President, I rise today to echo what my good friend and colleague, Senator Collins, has already said. Let me be clear. She pointed out the virtual unanimous support this legislation has from members of the Intelligence Committee--both sides. Let there be no mistake in terms of who was the relentless driver--some might even say ``persistent-beyond-belief driver'' of this issue. It was Susan Collins, and, once again, her service shows that she is standing up for America's diplomats and the intel community serving our country around the world who, as Senator Collins already indicated, have been involved in dangerous incidents resulting in brain trauma and other unexplained illnesses. We have called it the Havana syndrome

The remarkable thing is that for nearly 5 years, we have been aware of these reports, and we have seen, as the Senator mentioned, attacks on U.S. personnel in Cuba, in China, and around the world. We have these reports here in this country, and rather than disappearing or going down in number, they actually appear to be increasing.

Five years after the start of this effort, we don't know what happened, we don't know who did it, and we don't know what kind of device was used.

This is wrong. Particularly, I want to point out--this is an area where, again, we were in bipartisan agreement--that under the last administration, we just didn't treat these victims from the intel community, the State Department, and DOD with the seriousness they deserved.

As chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, I know the hardships, sacrifices, and risks our intelligence officers, diplomats, and other personnel serving overseas endure--often anonymously, often without recognition.

The fact that some of these brave women and men have been subjected to these serious health issues by unknown attackers is unacceptable. That their own government did not believe them when they were injured or denied them proper medical attention and care is beyond the pale. These are folks who were injured while serving our government and, in some cases, facing lifelong health consequences, and, for a while, we just got blown off. It is inexcusable that they were treated this way, and it is outrageous that we still don't know who did it or what tool was used in these attacks.

Their country, after their service, needs to have their backs. With Senator Collins's legislation--now that it has passed the Senate, and our hope is that it will soon pass the House--we will show that the country will have their backs.

I also want to give credit to the new CIA Director, Ambassador Burns, for making this a top priority. On the Senate Intelligence Committee, there is complete bipartisan unanimity on this issue. We are going to ensure that the United States gets to the bottom of this, identifies those responsible for those attacks on American personnel, holds them accountable, and ensures that these attacks on American personnel stop once and for all.

Let me echo what Senator Collins said. This should be one in an ever growing list of topics that President Biden ought to raise with President Putin.

We must protect our people around the globe. At the same time, it is more important than ever that the United States also provides those affected by these attacks with the medical and financial support they deserve. Again, that is why Senator Collins' legislation, the HAVANA Act, is so important.

Let me echo again what Senator Collins said. My partner in this, as well, has been Vice Chairman Rubio, and our good friend Senator Shaheen. The fact that this passed this quickly, unanimously, is extraordinarily important, but it is just the first step in having the backs of our diplomats, our intel personnel, our DOD, and, for that matter, anyone who has been a victim of this kind of activity. Again, I want to thank Senator Collins for her leadership on this issue. I can assure you, as Senator Collins said and Senator Rubio and I have repeated a number of number of times, the Intelligence Committee of the Senate is going to get to the bottom of this. We are going to make sure--and we have taken a giant step on this by passing this legislation--that the personnel will get the medical and, if necessary, financial assistance they need; that we are going to find out who did it, we are going to find out what type of device, and we are going to hold them accountable.

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