‘Havana syndrome sickens 100 officers’

WASHINGTON: About 100 CIA officers and family members are among some 200 US officials and kin sickened by “Havana syndrome” CIA director William Burns said on Thursday, referring to the mysterious set of ailments that include migraines and dizziness.

The syndrome, with symptoms such as dizziness, nausea, migraines and memory lapses, is named after Havana because it first was reported by US officials based in the US embassy in Cuba in 2016. It has been widely reported that the unexplained phenomenon has caused sickness and even brain damage in US diplomats and intelligence officials in Cuba, China, Russia and several other countries.

Burns, tapped by US President Joe Biden as the first career dipofficer lomat to serve as CIA chief, said in a National Public Radio interview that he has bolstered his agency’s efforts to determine the cause of the syndrome and what is responsible.

He confirmed that among other steps, he tapped a senior who once led the hunt for Osama bin Laden to head a task force investigating the syndrome, and said he tripled the size of the medical team involved in the probe.

The agency has shortened from eight weeks to two weeks the time that CIA-affiliated people must wait for admission to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, he added.

“It’s a profound obligation I think of any leader to take care of your people and that is what I am determined to do,” Burns told NPR in his first interview since becoming CIA director in March. He said a US National Academy of Sciences panel in December found that a plausible theory is that “directed energy” beams caused the syndrome. There is a “very strong possibility” that the syndrome is intentionally caused, and that Russia could be responsible, he alleged.