Collins, Colleagues Secure $30 Million in NDAA for Americans Affected by ‘Havana Syndrome’

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins (R-ME), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Tom Cotton (R-AR), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) secured key provisions and funding in the Senate FY22 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) to provide American government employees and their families suffering from symptoms of “Havana Syndrome” with access to the National Intrepid Center of Excellence at Walter Reed. These provisions were included in the WIRe Act introduced by the four Senators in May. Additionally, the Senators secured $30 million in the Senate NDAA for the Defense Health Program in order to improve treatment for victims of Havana Syndrome.

“It is unacceptable that some victims of the probable directed energy attacks did not receive the medical support they should have expected from our government when they were injured,” said Senator Collins. “American personnel who have undergone these attacks while serving our country should be treated the same way we would treat a soldier who suffered a traumatic brain injury on the battlefield. Walter Reed Medical Center has a world-renowned treatment center for TBIs, and I am pleased that our bipartisan provision in the NDAA would ensure non-DOD personnel have prompt access to this top-notch care.”

Walter Reed Army National Military Medical Center and its National Intrepid Center of Excellence has been the nation’s premier institution for the treatment of traumatic brain injuries for more than a decade. The WIRe Act would ensure that all U.S. government personnel who may have suffered a brain injury as the result of an attack during the course of their duties receives immediate treatment at this facility. It also directs elements of the departments and agencies of the federal government to remove any bureaucratic impediments to the immediate delivery of needed services.

In June, the Senate unanimously passed Senator Collins’ Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act, bipartisan legislation that would support American public servants who have incurred brain injuries from probable directed energy attacks by authorizing additional financial support.

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