Overview
- Homeland Security Investigations bought the unit in the final days of the Biden administration using Defense Department funds, with sources describing an eight‑figure price.
- Defense officials have conducted more than a year of testing and briefed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees late last year on the acquisition and findings.
- Sources say the device emits pulsed radio waves, contains Russian components, and is small enough to fit in a backpack.
- Officials have not disclosed where it was obtained or from whom, and previous public intelligence assessments largely deemed a broad foreign campaign unlikely.
- Some officials fear the technology may have proliferated to multiple states, as affected personnel and advocates demand greater transparency and accountability.