Overview
- Homeland Security Investigations bought the device in late 2024 using Pentagon funds reported to exceed eight figures in a clandestine purchase.
- The portable, backpack-sized system includes Russian-made components and emits pulsed radio‑frequency energy, according to people briefed on the analysis.
- Defense officials have tested the device for more than a year and briefed the House and Senate intelligence committees on their findings late last year.
- Most intelligence agencies continue to judge foreign involvement in the illnesses as very unlikely, though two agencies now see a roughly even chance a foreign adversary developed such a device without linking it to specific cases.
- Officials are weighing proliferation risks and the device’s undisclosed provenance as key uncertainties persist about causation and relevance to past anomalous health incidents.