HAVANA SYNDROME CAUSE UNKNOWN
Review finds foreign adversaries are unlikely to blame
U.S. intelligence agencies have determined that a foreign adversary is “very unlikely” to be responsible for the mysterious ailments known as Havana syndrome that American spies and diplomats have reported experiencing at missions around the world since 2016, officials announced Wednesday.
The assessment builds on interim findings from the CIA last year that neither Russia nor another hostile power was responsible for a global campaign targeting intelligence officers and diplomats who reported a wide range of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness and balance problems. In many of these cases, the patients said the symptoms began after they heard a strange sound and felt intense pressure in their heads.
But the conclusions released Wednesday were broader, finding that none of the episodes the government investigated could be attributed to hostile foreign action.
The intelligence community assessment found that while seven agencies had varying levels of confidence, most “concluded it is ‘very unlikely’ a foreign adversary is responsible” for the reported ailments. As part of the investigation, U.S. spy agencies reviewed intelligence that showed that adversaries were puzzled and
thought the reported symptoms were part of a U.S. plot.
Some researchers, including in a 2020 report from the National Academy of Sciences, have said a microwave device or weapon using pulsed directed energy was the most probable cause.
But Wednesday, the spy agencies concluded that there was no “credible evidence” any adversaries had developed a weapon or an intelligence collection device
capable of causing the injuries that American officials have reported. However, a team of experts at the Pentagon is continuing to investigate the matter.
The mystery ailments have been referred to as Havana syndrome because the first known cases were reported by CIA officers in the Cuban capital in 2016. Intelligence officers, diplomats and other U.S. government employees in China, Austria and dozens of other countries
subsequently reported similar cases.
William Burns, the CIA director, said in a statement that the findings reflected more than two years of “rigorous, painstaking collection, investigative work and analysis” by the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies.
“I and my leadership team stand firmly behind the work conducted and the findings,” Burns said. “I want to be absolutely clear: These findings do not call
into question the experiences and real health issues that U.S. government personnel and their family members — including CIA’s own officers — have reported while serving our country.”
Many patients who worked for the CIA and the State Department complained that their ailments were not taken seriously for much of the Trump administration.
That began to change in 2020 — toward the end of the Trump administration — when officials expanded efforts to collect information about suspected Havana syndrome cases, and the CIA, the State Department and other agencies asked their employees to report any such incidents.
That led to an explosion in the number of possible cases, from dozens to some 1,500.
In 2021, under the Biden administration, the CIA began increasing the resources that went into health care for its personnel and helped more officers reporting symptoms see brain injury specialists. The CIA and other intelligence agencies also put more resources into investigating what might have caused the syndrome, raising the hopes of patients that the perpetrator or perpetrators would be identified. Yet as officials investigated the hundreds of reports that came in, it became clear that there was not a single set of symptoms, but rather an array of ailments that clinically looked very different.
Wednesday’s announcement was upsetting news for many patients because they believe it cast doubt on the legitimacy of their injuries. Years later, some of the affected people are still dealing with serious health problems that have prevented them from returning to work.
Mark Zaid, a lawyer who represents several patients with Havana syndrome, said that the assessment would undermine morale and that the intelligence agencies needed to provide more details about their work.