Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, Susan Collins urge Pentagon not to sideline Havana Syndrome research
CBSN
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:
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.
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