'Foreign adversary' is likely behind some Havana syndrome incidents, House report says

A foreign adversary of the United States is likely behind some of the reported Havana syndrome incidents, a House congressional inquiry has concluded, adding a scathing critique of the U.S. intelligence community for “attempting to thwart” the investigation and producing an earlier “dubious or misleading” assessment dismissing the incidents.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., the chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee overseeing the CIA, published an interim report Thursday on an inquiry that began in February into how U.S. intelligence agencies handled Havana syndrome — which the government calls “anomalous health incidents.”

“It appears increasingly likely and the Chairman is convinced that a foreign adversary is behind some” of these incidents, the report said. “The Intelligence Community has attempted to thwart the Subcommittee’s investigative efforts to uncover the truth at every turn.”

Havana syndrome represents “a genuine and compelling danger” to U.S. intelligence workers that “has not been fully realized by Intelligence Community leadership,” the reports says, adding that there is evidence that intelligence officials tried to create “a politically palatable conclusion” and “impede investigative efforts that would uncover this effort.”

Because intelligence agencies have “withheld valuable information,” the subcommittee said it could not complete its investigation and issue a final unclassified report.

U.S. and Canadian officials affected by the incidents, first in Havana, then in Russia, Europe, China and even Washington, D.C., said they heard noises or felt pressure coming from a specific direction. They also developed debilitating symptoms like migraine, memory loss, ear pain and cognitive problems.

Congressional investigators conducted 48 interviews with current and former U.S. intelligence officials, doctors and victims, and reviewed thousands of pages of records produced by different intelligence agencies and whistleblowers.

But the intelligence agencies heavily redacted and “routinely” delayed the information requested by the subcommittee and “placed hurdles on who could testify,” the report says.

“Because of this lack of cooperation and the Subcommittee’s inability to access specific information, the Subcommittee concludes there must be something the Intelligence Community leadership has sought to prevent Congress from discovering,” the document says.

Mark Zaid, a lawyer representing some the victims and whistleblowers who testified for the House report, said the report was not political and echoed the allegations of a cover-up of “hard evidence” by the intelligence agencies.

“Not all hope is lost. Despite the efforts of the Intelligence Community to cover this up, true patriots have kept fighting in the shadows to ensure the truth prevailed,” said a former U.S. government employee who was the first to report an incident in Havana in late 2016 who asked to be identified as patient zero.

“While the Intelligence Community has dedicated their time to running a disinformation campaign in the press and infighting, our adversaries have only become bolder and more effective. We are weaker as a nation because of it, and these weapons have now proliferated. We need to act now before it’s too late,” patient zero said.

Spy agencies’ rebuttal

In a strong rebuttal, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the Miami Herald the intelligence community “does not agree with many of the report’s interim findings.”

“Most intelligence agencies assess that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported (incidents) and the assertion that we are withholding information that contradicts this analysis or would otherwise illuminate this complex subject is unfounded,” a spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the intelligence agencies’ investigation of the incidents “was among the most comprehensive in our history, bringing to bear the (intelligence community’s) full operational, analytic, and technical capabilities and those of our partners.”

U.S. intelligence agencies have engaged “extensively” with Congress and will continue to facilitate its oversight role, the spokesperson added.

A CIA official echoed those arguments and called the investigation of the Havana syndrome one of the largest and most intensive conducted by the agency, which left “no stone unturned.”

The official said the CIA has provided several briefings and records to the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in the past four years.

“Any suggestion that we are withholding information that would shed new light on this complex and difficult issue could not be further from the truth,” the official said.

A controversial assessment

Victims of Havana syndrome incidents reported in Cuba, the U.S. and several other countries said they felt a strange noise or pressure coming from a specific direction and developed symptoms similar to a traumatic brain injury.

But in March 2023, seven unnamed U.S. spy agencies published an assessment disputing research findings that some of the victims suffered injuries similar to a concussion. The assessment concluded that their ailments were likely linked to environmental factors or prior conditions because the agencies did not find “credible evidence that a foreign adversary has a weapon or collection device” that could explain the injuries.

The assessment, however, was not unanimous because different agencies had different degrees of confidence in the conclusions.

CIA Director William Burns warned his Russian counterparts of the consequences if they were found to be attacking U.S. officials in late 2021. But the assessment said evidence points away from U.S. adversaries’ involvement.

In a statement, Crawford said he believed that the claim that environmental or social factors can explain the Havana syndrome is false. “There is reliable evidence to suggest that some Anomalous Health Incidents are the work of foreign adversaries,” he added.

The interim report says the subcommittee has uncovered evidence that the assessment “lacked analytic integrity and was highly irregular in its formulation” and plans to issue a classified report explaining why it finds the assessment’s conclusions “dubious at best and misleading at worst.”

The subcommittee also believes the available evidence “does not support” the assessment’s conclusions and urged the intelligence community to update it. A Herald source who asked to remain anonymous to discuss the delicate matter said an updated assessment will likely be published soon.

The report also urged the administration to provide long-term medical care to those affected.

The spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said the agencies “will continue to do everything we can to protect the health and safety of our workforce and to care for our colleagues with compassion and professionalism.“

“Our analytic findings do not call into question the experiences and health issues that our colleagues, family members, and friends honestly reported,” she added.

The CIA, in particular, had been under fire for what former officials said was a lack of support to access medical treatment.

The CIA official said the agency’s support to provide quick access to care for those affected “evolved” and was “significantly complicated” by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on health providers.

New information

New information coming to light this year has poked holes into the intelligence assessment’s narrative.

For example, the Herald reported earlier this year that the CIA compensated some of its officials affected in Havana and elsewhere under a law that requires medical certification that prior conditions or known factors cannot explain the injury.

A Government Accountability Office report revealed that 334 Americans, including 15 children, have qualified to get treatment for Havana syndrome in specialized military health facilities.

After the Herald published complaints by participants in a National Institutes of Health study of Havana syndrome patients cited in the 2023 intelligence assessment to support its conclusions, an internal review board shut it down after confirming that some patients were coerced to join the study.

And in a bombshell report by “60 Minutes” and other European outlets about the potential role of a Russian military intelligence unit in Havana syndrome incidents, the former head of the Pentagon’s investigation into the ailments said he believed Russia was attacking U.S. officials abroad and at home.

But the revelations have not changed the spy agencies’ initial assessment.

The CIA official said the agency remains “alert to any new leads” and “will follow them rigorously if they emerge.”

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