Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has finally come through for former and current spies reporting Anomalous Health Incidents. According to a letter sent to members of Congress, Gabbard has ordered the National Intelligence Council to rescind two assessments on the origins of AHI.
Her memo states that the assessments — which essentially found it “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was causing AHI — did not meet analytic standards. Within a list of shortfalls, Gabbard cited mischaracterizations of sources to suppress analyses, omissions of information, and limited intelligence collection.
Russia is believed to be behind the incidents, as cornerstone cases involved officers with expertise and experience there. Marc Polymeropolous, a former senior CIA officer who first came forward to share his unsettling experience in Moscow, tells me today, “This is a huge victory in a multi-year battle to get to the truth.”
Another member of the community said in a text message, “We are relieved and grateful to Gabbard for her commitment to the cadre and correction of the record. CIA fought this to the last minute.”
Rep. Rick Crawford, who leads the House’s the intelligence committee and called on the intel community to retract its 2023 assessment after I reported on the U.S. government testing a directed energy device, wrote on X, “These flawed, fraudulent, and manufactured Intelligence Community Assessments (ICA) have caused significant harm to some of our nation’s bravest.”
A lot has been said about Gabbard as she gets ready to leave the ODNI under circumstances that have been debated. Husband’s cancer or falling out of favor with President Donald Trump? Crawford commended “her overall willingness to do the right thing.”
Last I heard, there are still efforts inside the CIA to thwart critical research in the Defense Department’s Cross-Functional Team. And criticism for a newer team which hired back some of the old guard.
I’m not sure what happens next, but maybe the tides are turning.
Mark Zaid, the national security attorney representing many current and former intel officers, vowed to keep working with Crawford’s committee “to help expose the truth about Anomalous Health Incidents.”
