A lead U.S. military investigator examining reports of what has become known as Havana Syndrome told 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officials are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to prove it was set impossibly high.

Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Army lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officials refer to as “anomalous health incidents,” said the bar for proof was set so high because the country doesn’t want to face some very hard truths, like the existence of possible failures to protect Americans.

“Unfortunately I can’t get into specifics, based on the classification,” Edgreen said. “But I can tell you at a very early stage, I started to focus on Moscow.”

A 2023 government report deemed it “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious brain injuries suffered by U.S. national security officials, yet more than 100 Americans have symptoms scientists say could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are frustrated that the government publicly doubts an adversary is targeting Americans. The ongoing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new evidence pointing toward Russia.

Here is the transcript of the March 31, 2024 60 Minutes episode. It’s well worth reading.

  • neatchee@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    This has big “we investigated ourselves and found ourselves innocent of any wrongdoing” vibes. There are a million reasons why the pentagon wouldn’t be honest about this sort of thing, from PR concerns about failing to defend the country, to doing it themselves and not wanting to risk exposing themselves

    I’m not saying it’s true. I’m just saying I’d like someone other than a government agency to do the investigating

    • girlfreddy@lemmy.caOP
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      7 months ago

      The 60 Minutes episode had a couple of people with their own theories, ie: if the problem is not acknowledged then Washington doesn’t have to deal with it. And that makes sense.