The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concluded that it is unlikely that a foreign adversary is using microwaves or other forms of directed energy to target hundreds of U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials who attribute their brain injuries and other symptoms to what is known as “Havana syndrome.”
However the CIA also warned that a smaller number of cases continue to defy explanation.
It was in 2016, when for the first time diplomats at the U.S. embassy in Havana reported that hundreds of U.S. personnel became ill, with symptoms ranging from nausea and dizziness to debilitating headaches and memory problems.
Havana Syndrome
Suspected cases of the so-called Havana syndrome were reported in Russia, China, Poland, and Austria, and the disease affected some U.S. officials so badly that they derailed their careers.
However, a CIA interim report finds that most of the illnesses, also known as anomalous health incidents, or AHI, are no mystery at all.
“We assess that most of the reported AHI cases can be reasonably explained by medical conditions or environmental and technical factors, including previously undiagnosed illnesses,” a CIA official told the Voice of America on condition of anonymity in order to discuss the report.
The official declined to say exactly how many cases the agency investigated, describing the number as “dynamic,” and noted that reports increased dramatically once the government encouraged workers to report any symptoms that might be related to Havana syndrome.
Unresolved cases
However, there are “a couple of dozen cases” for which there are still no answers, the official said.
“There is a subset of cases, including some of our most difficult cases, that remain unresolved,” he explained.
The location of many of the first reported cases (Havana, Russia, and China) led to speculation that Havana syndrome was not so much a disease as an effort to harm U.S. diplomats and intelligence personnel.
A 2020 report from the National Academy of Sciences further fueled these concerns and concluded that “pulsed and directed radiofrequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism to explain” the growing number of cases.
The CIA interim report, while not ruling out that someone or something may be causing Havana syndrome in the unexplained cases, called the use of a weapon unlikely.
“We assess that it is unlikely that a foreign adversary, including Russia, is conducting a sustained global campaign that harms U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism,” the source quoted him as saying. “So far, we have found no evidence of state actor involvement in any incident.”
Despite the interim report’s findings, U.S. officials maintain that they continue to take reports of illness among U.S. government employees seriously and making sure medical care is available remains a priority.
“I have no higher priority as secretary than the health and safety of all of our colleagues and their families,” said Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week.
While CIA Director William Burns emphasized the need to care for those who have been ill and any personnel who may be affected in the future, describing their suffering as real.
“While we have arrived at some significant interim findings, we are not finished,” Burns said in a statement. “We will continue our mission to investigate these incidents and provide access to first-level care for those who need it.”
Lawmakers’ Response.
Some U.S. lawmakers praised the CIA’s efforts to determine the cause of the ailments, but said much remains to be done.
“Reports of abnormal health incidents among intelligence, diplomatic and military personnel surfaced as early as 2016, but were not always taken seriously,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Mark Warner, a Democrat, was quoted as saying in a statement.
“I am encouraged that procedures are now in place to ensure that those who are affected by these anomalous health incidents finally have access to the world-class care they deserve,” he added.
While Republican Marco Rubio, vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was equally adamant that lawmakers would continue to press U.S. intelligence officials for answers.
“The CIA must continue to make this issue a priority,” Rubio sentenced, noting the possibility that the unsolved cases could still be “the work of a foreign government or a specific weapon or device.”
U.S. lawmakers, led by Warner, Rubio and Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins, last year passed the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attack Act, or HAVANA Act, which was also signed into law by President Joe Biden .
The act provides financial support to U.S. government employees suffering from symptoms attributed to HAVANA syndrome.
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