Pentagon investigating mysterious 'directed energy' attack near White House

The Pentagon and other federal agencies are investigating two mysterious attacks on U.S. soil, including one near the White House.

Multiple sources told CNN the attacks appear similar to so-called "directed energy" incidents that left dozens of U.S. personnel with debilitating symptoms in previous cases abroad, and Defense Department officials and other federal authorities have reached no clear conclusion about what took place.

"I knew CIA and Department of State were not taking this sh*t seriously, and we wanted to shame them into it by establishing our task force," said Chris Miller, who was named acting Defense secretary at the end of Donald Trump's presidency.

Pentagon officials briefed the Senate and House Armed Services Committees on the matter earlier this month, including details on the November 2020 incident near the Ellipse that sickened one National Security Council official, according to multiple current and former officials familiar with the matter.

A White House official reported a similar attack while walking her dog in 2019 outside Washington in a Virginia suburb.

Their symptoms resembled those of CIA and State Department personnel sickened in a so-called "Havana syndrome" attack while working abroad.

Those symptoms include ear popping, vertigo, pounding headaches and nausea, sometimes accompanied by an unidentified "piercing directional noise."

Defense officials told lawmakers that Russia could be behind the attacks, but another former U.S. official said China was also considered a suspect.