The U.S. intelligence community released a report Wednesday that says it is “very unlikely” a foreign adversary is responsible for abnormal afflictions known as “Havana syndrome” reportedly plaguing agents.
At the same time the agency took great care not to dismiss or minimize the distress and damage that those affected have reported over the years. CIA Director William Burns released his own statement also on Wednesday, saying that the continued lack of evidence of outside infliction does not invalidate “the experiences and real health issues” of U.S. officials.
“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,” Burns said.
Havana syndrome refers to brain injuries of unknown origin marked by symptoms that include headaches, memory and cognition problems, hearing and vision loss, and dizziness. The official report said that the idea that the symptoms were perpetrated by Russia or other U.S. adversaries was “not borne out by subsequent medical and technical analysis.”
“In light of this and the evidence that points away from a foreign adversary, causal mechanism, or unique syndrome linked to AHls, IC agencies assess that symptoms reported by U.S. personnel were probably the result of factors that did not involve a foreign adversary, such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors,” the Office of the Director of National Intelligence wrote.
The report did acknowledge that “IC agencies have varying confidence levels because we still have gaps given the challenges collecting on foreign adversaries – as we do on many issues involving them.”
The conclusions of the report concur with previous findings that have doubted the use of speculative “energy weapons” or devices to incapacitate targets.
U.S. officials and agents who have reported experiencing the inexplicable symptoms released a statement the same day to question the validity of the findings.
“The new report does not track with our lived experiences, nor does it account for what many medical professionals across multiple institutions have found in working with us,” the victims’ statement read. “Our doctors have determined that environmental or preexisting medical issues did not cause the symptoms and traumatic injuries to our neurological systems that many of us have been diagnosed with.”
The victims’ reaction to the report went on to assert that the current findings cannot be the end of the investigation, persisting in speculation of outside weaponry causing the symptoms.
“This report leaves us, and the American people, no closer to an answer and insinuates that our injuries are not real. Our medical records demonstrate otherwise, and weapons capable of causing these types of injuries are known and have existed for decades,” the victims wrote.
The phenomenon was first reported in 2016 by 26 diplomats and their families working in Cuba. Since then, more than 200 cases have been reported, including a member of Burns’ team who claimed to suffer symptoms on a trip to India.
