BETHESDA, Md. — Exactly one year ago, in these pages, I implored Congress to receive classified testimony from me about State Department and CIA efforts to cover up evidence and intelligence of the so-called “Havana Syndrome” — caused by pulsed microwave attacks that injured me, my three family members and more than 120 U.S. government colleagues and their family members.

The State Department’s reaction under the Biden administration was swift, vindictive, and retaliatory. I was kicked out of my posting at the U.S. Embassy in Helsinki, Finland, where I had been overseeing the technical security of four of our highest-tempo embassies in the world. As punishment, I was given a drudge assignment, sent back to Washington to deliver U.S. diplomatic passports.

The retaliation didn’t end there. In June, Emmy-winning journalist Catherine Herridge posted an interview in which I exposed State Department fraud, waste, and abuse by bureaucrats, including on Havana Syndrome-related issues. Within less than 12 hours, I was placed on administrative leave by these same exact bureaucrats and not allowed to access my State Department office or any of my work email systems. I believe this was done specifically so that I could not provide to Congress the classified and unclassified information showing how State and the CIA have covered up and suppressed information on Havana Syndrome.

Having served in Afghanistan and worked very closely with the U.S. military, I have immense respect for Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. So I am making a personal appeal here to her to release the immense amount of unclassified information the U.S. government has on the biological effects of pulsed microwave radiation levels in excess of one milliwatt per square centimeter. She can also declassify and release the troves of classified material the U.S. government possesses on Havana Syndrome — especially its knowledge of weapons systems known to cause the injuries incurred by my family members as well as details on the attacks against us that occurred in Guangzhou, China. 

In the latter case, the U.S. government says it cannot release anything to the public because it involves “medical privacy issues.” This is nonsense. I have signed literally dozens of waivers and authorizations allowing the U.S. government to release my medical information and brain injury testing results. In fact, I have begged the U.S. government, to no avail, to release the taxpayer-funded MRIs showing the effects of high levels of pulsed microwave radiation on my brain.  

There are volumes of information on the pulsed microwave attacks that the CIA and the State Department have overclassified and suppressed in order to thwart President Trump, who in 2017 rightly and very publicly referred to Havana Syndrome as being from “attacks.”

Trump does not even know how right he is that American weakness led in large part to the war in Ukraine. I firmly believe that the Biden administration’s feeble non-response to these attacks on top American U.S. personnel — many of whom have Russian language skills, like myself — was one factor in convincing Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would face no consequence for invading Ukraine. 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio likely has no idea the extent to which bureaucrats in his Cabinet department have gone in order to prevent my testimony today to the House Intelligence Committee. They have failed because of the persistence of Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) who refused to let these bureaucrats continue to bully me. He is the reason I am finally testifying this week, and I am grateful for his leadership.

While testifying to the Intelligence Committee is a promising start, I also need to testify to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, as well as the newly created Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets. I believe this last body is an answer to my prayers in terms of holding State and CIA accountable for overclassifying intelligence about the pulsed microwave attacks that have upended my life and that of my family.  

Gabbard has spoken passionately and eloquently about how the U.S. government in the past has suppressed and covered up intelligence for political purposes, leading most Americans not to trust the U.S. intelligence community at all. 

There is actually no better example of this than the Havana Syndrome cover-up. The U.S. government has compensated my family with a lot of money for our diagnosed Traumatic Brain Injuries, yet it publicly shrugs when asked to explain why exactly American taxpayer money was used for this purpose.

As someone injured in the line of duty for my service, I am counting on Gabbard to declassify and release the Havana Syndrome files, so that taxpayers know what I know and am testifying to today before Congress.

Mark Lenzi is former Spokesman for the New Hampshire Republican Party. He works for the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service and is currently receiving Traumatic Brain Injury treatment at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the U.S. government.