An intelligence community expert panel concluded the so-called Havana Syndrome could be caused by “pulsed electromagnetic energy,” but it did not weigh in on the possibility a foreign enemy was behind it.
The release of the panel’s executive summary comes weeks after a CIA-led report in January cast doubt on claims a foreign government caused the mysterious phenomenon that has afflicted scores of U.S. diplomats and agents with debilitating symptoms. The panel’s new executive summary included six main findings about Havana Syndrome.
HAVANA SYNDROME NOT LIKELY A FOREIGN OPERATION: CIA
“Pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radiofrequency range, plausibly explains the core characteristics, although information gaps exist,” the panel concluded.
Such pulsed energy could be generated by various methods, easily hidden, dependent on modest amounts of energy, and able to travel through buildings, the panel said.
The Havana Syndrome saga burst into public view following health incidents at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba in 2016, but related incidents have been reported to have occurred before and after.
Symptoms, described as “anomalous health incidents (AHIs),” include sound or pressure in an ear or on one side of the head, vertigo, and ear pain — all amid an absence of known environmental or medical conditions that could have caused them.
The U.S. government has been investigating the unusual symptoms reported among its personnel serving abroad. Speculation has centered on Russia, China, and Cuba as possible culprits.
One key finding by the panel was the ruling out of mass hysteria. The symptoms are quite real in many, if not most, cases, though some could be due to “hypervigilance and normal human reactions to stress and ambiguity.”
The panel ruled out several potential causes, including radiation, chemical or biological agents, and electromagnetic energy.
The group said intelligence agencies provided it with dozens of briefings and more than 1,000 classified records and that affected individuals shared their personal experiences and medical records.
Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines and CIA Director William Burns released a statement Wednesday, saying the January report was “primarily focused on the question of attribution” and that they were “pleased” to share expert panel’s findings.
“The panel found that a subset of AHIs cannot be easily explained by known environmental or medical conditions and could be explained by certain external factors,” Haines and Burns said.
The panel was made up of experts in science, medicine, and engineering. While the experts did not consider who or what might be behind Havana Syndrome, it said any plausible cause had to meet key characteristics to be viable. They included a concealable source, a method of delivery, and the ability to cause the biological effects that match symptoms reported.
The January conclusions casting doubt on a foreign government’s involvement were met with skepticism from a number of Havana Syndrome victims and from some Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill.
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The National Academies of Sciences released a report in 2020 considering possible sources of the illness, concluding that 40 diplomats in Havana and a dozen in China suffered symptoms “consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed, radiofrequency energy” and called that the “most plausible” explanation for many cases.
Other scientists and science writers have cast doubt on the energy weapon explanation, saying it is not supported by scientific evidence and would be implausible. A declassified but heavily redacted 2018 report by the JASON group, which was advising the State Department, also cast doubt on the energy weapon possibility.
