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An intelligence community report released Friday stands by its conclusion that a foreign adversary is not behind the mysterious illnesses of government workers, but opened the door to the possibility that foreign actors may have developed the capability to do it
Of the total of seven agencies tasked with reviewing the source of the Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI) first reported in Havana, Cuba, which have come to be known as the “Havana Syndrome,” five were behind a 2023 assessment found that a foreign nation was unlikely to be. behind the attacks.
But two changed their positions, with one determining that there was essentially a 50-50 chance that a foreign adversary had manufactured, but not deployed, an attack-capable weapon, while the other gave similar odds that this weapon had already been used.
“One judges that there is approximately even a possibility that a foreign actor used a new weapon or prototype device to harm a small, undetermined subset of U.S. government personnel or dependents who reported medical symptoms or sensory phenomena. “, an official from the Office of the National Director. Intelligence (ODNI) said in a call with reporters.
“This language is very precise, because none of these components can identify or identify specific events, whether (in) Havana or anywhere else, because … they agree that there is no intelligence that links any foreign actor to a specific event”.
The report does not identify which agencies were behind which findings, but notes that agencies that raised the possibility of foreign involvement did so with little confidence.
While most of the report is behind a ODNI 2023 ratingfinding no evidence that a foreign adversary was behind the attack, the update comes after a GOP reportof a House Intelligence subcommittee that concluded that a foreign power was likely behind the attacks.
However, Democrats on the panel quickly questioned the rigor of that report, saying Republicans uncovered no new evidence.
Friday’s ODNI report is the latest to weigh in on a series of unexplained ailments afflicting those working in the intelligence community, the State Department and elsewhere, who complain of symptoms that from headaches to nausea to dizziness and trouble concentrating.
“One component assessed that a foreign actor is likely to have an anti-personnel (radio frequency) capability and that this capability may cause biological effects consistent with some of the symptoms reported as possible AHI,” the ODNI official said.
The other five agencies, however, still believe it is unlikely that a foreign adversary has a weapon capable of causing the symptoms experienced by the AHI reporters. Instead of the lack of evidence that a foreign power is behind the attack, they concluded that “intelligence reports do not implicate the main US adversaries.”
The official said it included reports indicating credible foreign adversaries and well-informed organizations “expressing surprise or privately denying their involvement.”
ODNI stressed that the report was not intended to cast doubt on the actual symptoms experienced by journalists, including nearly 100 at the CIA alone.
“The amazing analysts working on this issue are human. Those reporting AHI are our colleagues and friends. The purpose of our analysis is to find out what happened to them, not question whether they had medical symptoms. Like I said, we follow the facts wherever they take us, and many of us were surprised by the results,” they said.
Updated at 12:17 p.m
