On October 8, 2021, President Biden signed the Havana Act of 2021 into law. Entitled the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA), the law provides financial support for federal personnel who have sustained brain injuries from alleged direct energy assaults.

The House passed bipartisan legislation on Tuesday, September 20, 2021to compensate victims of the Havana Syndrome, a mysterious illness that started affecting U.S. personnel in 2016 in Cuba. The bill, entitled the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks (HAVANA) Act of 2021, passed the Senate on June 7, 2021, and now moves to President Biden’s desk to be signed into law.

The federal government’s efforts to modernize and rationalize its workforce vetting policies and protocols continue to move forward, with actions coming at the tail end of the last administration and in the first month of the Biden administration.