‘Havana Syndrome’ whistleblower seeks congressional investigation over State Department retaliation claim

A “Havana Syndrome” survivor and whistleblower has called for a congressional investigation into the State Department’s alleged retaliation against her.

Senior Foreign Service officer Mark Lenzi, who was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury after being medically evacuated from China in 2018, provided documents to Punchbowl News that include: pre-made cable As of last week, a request had been made to “shorten his term of office” due to “personal reasons”.

Lenzi denied sending the cable, and both the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s DN.H. He contacted his office to investigate whether the State Department had retaliated against him.

A spokesman for House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul said the panel “takes the whistleblower complaints very seriously and is currently reviewing Mr. Lenzi’s case.”

Shaheen’s spokesman said the senator’s office “contacted Mark to provide him with resources to help state employees navigate this situation.”

Lenzi claimed that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs tried to silence him column In September, he wrote that it had been cleared with the department before publication. And he says the department is trying to remove him from his post at the US embassy in Helsinki.

The Office of Special Counsel’s Investigations and Prosecution Division has already opened an investigation, and Lenzi has received payments totaling over $1 million from the federal government.

“My goal is to work with Congress on whistleblower retaliation legislation for the State Department,” Lenzi told Punchbowl News. “Morale is extremely low at the State Department right now because of the lack of accountability.”