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Amid a rise in reported cases of so-called Havana Syndrome, the State Department named a new coordinator to look into the cases on Friday, the Associated Press reported.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken appointed Jonathan Moore to coordinate the department's task force on the cases.
U.S. personnel worldwide have recently reported more cases of symptoms related to Havana Syndrome, such as headaches, nausea and dizziness. The State Department is trying to determine whether the ailments, often related to outcomes from a traumatic brain injury, are being caused by exposure to microwaves or other forms of direct energy.
The American government has not publicly identified what or whom might be behind the incidents. Years of investigation have not even clarified if the situations should be considered attacks or an anomaly.
However, State and Defense Department leaders, plus high-ranking officials in the CIA, are encouraging employees to report possible brain injuries.
"This is about the health and security of our people and there's nothing we take more seriously," Blinken said Friday.
CIA Director William J. Burns chose not to use the word "attacks" when asked by a congressman during a hearing in late October if the term was proper, according to AP.
"We've worked very hard to improve care, the care that our officers and sometimes their family members deserve," Burns said. "And we have mounted an extraordinarily vigorous effort to get to the bottom of the questions of who and what may be causing these as well."
The government is looking into several hundred cases, AP reported. A recent report even involved a member of Burns' traveling party during a trip to India, as well as incidents at the U.S. Embassy in Bogatá, Colombia.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Moore replaces Pamela Spratlen, a retired diplomat temporarily called back into service by Blinken before leaving in September. She had faced criticism from some victims.
Blinken also appointed retired Ambassador Margaret Uyehara to lead efforts to directly support care for State Department employees.
Possibilities under consideration include the usage of a surveillance tool or a device intended to harm. The cases are known as Havana Syndrome dating to a series of reported brain injuries in 2016 at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba.
The State Department said Friday that Deputy Secretary Brian McKeon had met with diplomats in Vienna to discuss possible cases reported this year in Austria. The department said it had taken a "number of important steps, none of which we can detail publicly, to protect our personnel."
Democrats and Republicans have pressed President Joe Biden's administration to determine who and what might be responsible for the cases and improve treatment for victims, many of whom have long said government officials aren't taking their cases seriously. Biden earlier this month signed a bill intended to improve medical care for victims.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, said at a recent hearing that after speaking to victims, there was still "clearly a disconnect as to what is happening at the top levels of the State Department and how victims are being treated in some cases."
Shaheen has introduced new legislation to fix what she described as differences in how various agencies are investigating and treating cases.
"There's still not enough information that's being shared, not enough coordination that's being done," she said in an interview. "There's not a unanimity of response on how to deal with it."
Burns, pressed on Havana Syndrome cases at a separate hearing last week, noted that the agency's investigation into the cases is led by a key leader responsible for the operation to find Osama Bin Laden.
Dr. James Giordano, a scientist working on investigations into the cases, said the incidents were being viewed as "an intentional engagement" by a U.S. adversary or proxies, though he declined to specify suspected countries.
"Speaking about attribution at this point in time is a very delicate matter because of the intelligence, military, and political ramifications," said Giordano, executive director of the Institute for Biodefense Research in Washington.
Writing for the Cipher Brief, a publication focused on intelligence, a group of former CIA officers said they had "few doubts" that Russia was responsible and expected the U.S. to eventually blame Moscow. The officers called for the U.S. to bolster its military presence in Eastern Europe, limit Russian business and tourist travel, and seek collective defense through NATO.
"For at least a decade, Russia has conducted itself as in a state of conflict with the West in general and the United States in particular," the group said.
