CIA officer displays Havana syndrome

Incident during India visit sets off alarm bells within US government

ACIA officer, who travelled to India with CIA Director William Burns this month, reported symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome, a mysterious affliction that has struck US diplomats, spies and other government workers at home and abroad, US media reports said yesterday.

The official, who was not identified, had to receive medical attention, CNN reported, citing three unnamed sources. The incident set off alarm bells within the US government and left Burns “fuming” with anger, one source explained.

The circumstances of the incident are still being investigated, and officials have not yet determined whether the CIA officer was targeted because the officer was travelling with the director, William Burns, or for other reasons. If the incident was caused by an adversarial intelligence service, it may not have known the officer was travelling with Burns, The New York Times reported.

Serious implications

A CIA spokeswoman declined to confirm the case in India but said the US government and the agency are taking every incident seriously.

“Director Burns has made it a top priority to ensure officers get the care they need and that we get to the bottom of this,” the NBC News quoted a spokeswoman as saying.

“We’ve strengthened efforts to determine the origins of the incidents, including assembling a team of our very best experts ‘” bringing an intensity and expertise to this issue akin to our efforts to find [Osama] Bin Laden,” she said.

The situation in India could have dramatic implications: the CIA director’s schedule is tightly held and there are deep concerns among US officials about how the perpetrator would have known about the visit and been able to plan for such aggression, the CNN report said.