A senior U.S. senator on the Armed Services Committee told Newsmax that the Pentagon has categorically denied using any secret or experimental weapon during the Jan. 3 U.S. operation in Venezuela, dismissing claims that American forces deployed a device that caused debilitating sonic or pressure-related injuries to Venezuelan troops.
The denial comes amid a wave of online reports and eyewitness accounts alleging that Venezuelan security forces experienced intense physical symptoms during the raid, including severe head pressure, nosebleeds, disorientation, and vomiting blood.
Some accounts described the sensation as a "sound wave" or invisible force that left soldiers incapacitated within seconds.
According to the senator, who spoke on background due to the sensitivity of classified briefings, Defense Department officials told lawmakers that "no novel, experimental, or directed-energy weapon was used" during the operation.
Pentagon briefers insisted that no such device exists in the active U.S. arsenal and that allegations to the contrary are "simply false."
"What the Pentagon made very clear to us," the senator said, "is that this operation relied on precision, planning, and existing military capabilities — not science fiction weapons."
The claims gained traction after a Venezuelan guard, described as a witness to the raid, alleged in a widely shared social media post that U.S. forces deployed a device that produced an intense internal pressure, leaving troops bleeding and unable to stand.
The account described radar systems suddenly going offline, followed by the appearance of drones and helicopters inserting a small number of U.S. personnel.
The witness claimed that moments later, Venezuelan troops experienced what he described as an overwhelming sonic effect.
"It felt like my head was exploding from the inside," the guard said, alleging that soldiers began bleeding from the nose, vomiting blood, collapsing, and losing motor control.
Some commentators have speculated that the symptoms resemble effects associated with so-called "directed energy" or acoustic weapons — technologies that have long been the subject of rumor and debate, including during past incidents involving U.S. diplomats abroad.
Those symptoms are often described as headaches, dizziness, nausea, confusion, pressure in the head, ringing in the ears, and, in extreme cases, bleeding.
However, Pentagon officials told senators that none of those technologies were deployed and that no acoustic or microwave-based weapon was used in Venezuela.
Instead, defense officials said the operation relied on highly targeted snipers, precision-guided munitions, electronic warfare, cyber capabilities, and conventional air and ground assets.
Advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance platforms were used to identify threats, while U.S. forces employed existing weapons systems to neutralize enemy combatants.
"The injuries and chaos described in these reports can be explained by conventional factors," one defense official told lawmakers, according to the senator.
"Concussive effects from explosions, stress responses in combat, disorientation from sudden loss of communications, and the psychological impact of overwhelming force."
The Pentagon also briefed senators that cyber and electronic warfare capabilities were used to disrupt Venezuelan command-and-control systems and air defenses, potentially contributing to confusion among defending forces.
Power outages in Caracas during the operation have fueled speculation, but officials said those effects were consistent with known cyber operations, not exotic weaponry.
An estimated 100 Venezuelan security personnel were killed during the raid, according to Venezuela's Interior Ministry, though it remains unclear how many deaths or injuries occurred during close combat versus airstrikes or other engagements.
The Armed Services Committee senator emphasized that lawmakers pressed the Pentagon directly on the rumors.
"We asked very blunt questions," the senator said. "The answer was unequivocal: no secret device, no sonic weapon, no experimental system."
Pentagon officials also warned that adversaries and online actors may be amplifying or fabricating claims to exaggerate U.S. capabilities or sow confusion about American military technology.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.