A federal judge denied the State Department’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit from a Havana Syndrome victim who alleges the government retaliated against him for testifying to Congress, allowing the case to go to trial.
The lawsuit nominally targets Secretary of State Marco Rubio — ironically one of the top defenders of Havana Syndrome victims and a critic of the intelligence community’s handling of the crisis during his time leading the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The lawsuit from Mark Lenzi — a senior foreign service officer who was afflicted with the mysterious illness while serving in China in 2018 — comes a month after a joint “60 Minutes”-Der Spiegel investigation uncovered further evidence that the Russian government is responsible for the attacks on U.S. diplomats.
At the heart of Lenzi’s lawsuit is his claim — first reported by Punchbowl News — that the department forced him out of his diplomatic posting in Helsinki when he sought to testify on Capitol Hill. The lawsuit, which was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, also alleges disability discrimination.
Lenzi has since testified to the House Intelligence Committee and has long sought to blow the whistle on efforts by intelligence officials to downplay Moscow’s nexus to the attacks, which use pulsed microwave energy that causes permanent brain damage. The committee is investigating the intelligence community’s handling of the matter.
Lenzi was a beneficiary of the HAVANA Act, a 2021 law authorizing funding for treatment. That effort was spearheaded by Rubio, who during his Senate tenure, was skeptical of the CIA’s efforts to downplay Russia’s involvement.
Yet Rubio is named as the defendant in Lenzi’s lawsuit due to his position as secretary of state.
Here’s what Lenzi told us:
“I am gratified that this case will proceed and that Secretary Rubio — who played a crucial role in all four members of my family becoming HAVANA Act recipients — will become aware of just how horrible numerous Deep State bureaucrats in the State Department have treated one of its own officers injured in the line of duty.”
