An intelligence review suggests that the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" was not caused by energy weapons or foreign adversaries.
The report shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of United States personnel were victims of a targeted attack that caused them to be sick from energy waves. The new intelligence assessment follows a years-long effort of the CIA in cooperation with other US intelligence agencies to determine the origin of the disease.
Mysterious Havana Syndrome
The controversy was why career diplomats, intelligence officers, and other people who served in US missions worldwide suffered what they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations. The mysterious trauma led to shortened careers, massive medical bills, and severe physical and emotional suffering in some instances.
Many of the pho who had the disease argued that they were targeted by a deliberate attack, potentially from Russia or another adversarial government of the US. This has been a claim that the latest report contradicts in nearly every aspect, as per the New York Post.
Seven intelligence agencies were involved in reviewing roughly 1,000 cases of "anomalous health incidents." This was a term that the United States government used to describe a constellation of physical symptoms that include ringing in the ears followed by pressure in the patient's head, nausea, headaches, and acute discomfort.
Five of the agencies involved in the investigation determined that it was "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was responsible for the disease, whether from purposeful actions such as a directed energy weapon or a byproduct of some other activity such as electronic surveillance.
The people involved with the report maintained anonymity so that they could describe the assessment findings, which have not yet been made available to the public. Furthermore, one agency, which was kept anonymous, determined that it was also "unlikely" that a foreign actor was responsible for the incidents.
Unlikely To Have Been Caused by Foreign Adversary
The first instances of the Havana syndrome were reported at the United States Embassy in Havana in 2016, where it got its name. The officials from the intelligence agencies said that they reviewed clusters of reported cases, including those from US embassies, and found no significant pattern or common set of conditions that link individual cases, according to the Washington Post.
No forensic information or geolocation data also suggested an adversary party utilized a form of directed energy, such as radio waves or ultrasonic beams. There were also some cases where there was no "direct line of sight" to affected personnel working at US facilities.
Several intelligence agencies argued that the symptoms the patients experienced could have resulted from various factors that did not involve a foreign adversary. These include pre-existing conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.
CIA Director William Burns said that despite the findings, officials did not question the experiences and real health issues the affected individuals suffered. He added that authorities would continue to remain vigilant to any potential risks to the health and well-being of agency officers, said Axios.
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