“We want accountability,” Mr. Schiff said. “It took too long to get to where we are. Too many people were suffering, not getting the help that they needed and not being believed. So, we’re still making up for lost ground.”
Marc E. Polymeropoulos, a senior C.I.A. officer at the time, was injured in Moscow in 2017 but did not receive effective treatment until after he retired and began seeing doctors this year at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“The bottom line is that traumatic brain injury does not get better over time, so I and others suffered unnecessarily,” Mr. Polymeropoulos said. “We made a pact with the C.I.A.: When we would do tough things and get jammed up, they would have our back.”
Doug Wise, a former top intelligence official who has been critical of the C.I.A.’s handling of the health episodes during the Trump administration, said it was important for reviews to look at how top C.I.A. officials handled the episodes, and why officers’ reports were not initially taken seriously.
“I think it is an important thing for the committee to mandate a review. For whatever reason the agency is incapable of doing their own look because they are unwilling to hold their own leaders accountable,” Mr. Wise said. “The only thing the victims asked for was respect, compassion and medical treatment.”
This year, Mr. Burns removed the head of the office of medical services, replacing him with a doctor focused on patient care. Former intelligence officials have said the office is more focused on victim care since that change.
The House measure is aimed at further improving care for intelligence officers by raising pay for the agency’s doctors, mandating outside clinical training and creating an advisory board appointed by Congress and the director of national intelligence.