A division of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, purchased the device for millions of dollars in the waning days of the Biden administration, using funding provided by the Defense Department, according to two of the sources. Officials paid "eight figures" for the device, these people said, declining to offer a more specific number.
The device is still being studied and there is ongoing debate — and in some quarters of government, skepticism — over its link to the roughly dozens of anomalous health incidents that remain officially unexplained.
CNN has asked the Pentagon, HSI and the DHS for comment. The CIA declined to comment.