Report IDs likely source of mysterious illness

Themost probable cause of a series of mysterious afflictions that have sickened American spies and diplomats abroad in the past severalyears was radio-frequency energy, a type of radiation that includes microwaves, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine has concluded in a report.

The conclusion by a committee of 19 experts in medicine and other fields cited “directed, pulsed radio-frequency energy” as “the most plausible mechanism” to explain the illness, which came to be known as Havana syndrome, although they said they could not rule out other possible causes and that secondary factors may have contributed to symptoms, accordingto the report.

Thereport, which was commissioned by the State Department, provides the most definitive explanation yet of the strange illness that struck scores of government employees, first at the U.S. Embassy in Havana in 2016 and subsequently in China and other countries. Many of the officers suffered from dizziness, fatigue, headaches, and loss of hearing, memory and balance; some were forced into retirement.

CIA officers visiting overseas stations experienced similar symptoms, the New York Times and GQ magazine reported in October. The officers were traveling to discuss countering Russia covert operations with foreign intelligence agencies, a fact that adds to suspicions that Moscow is behind the episodes.