House intelligence panel sees foreign link to ‘Havana syndrome’ incidents

An interim investigation by a House intelligence oversight panel has concluded that mysterious brain injuries suffered by U.S. diplomatic and intelligence personnel in recent years are likely the result of some kind of foreign attack.

Republicans on the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence’s CIA subcommittee also said in an unclassified report that the CIA tried to block congressional investigators who challenged a recent U.S. intelligence assessment that foreign adversaries were unlikely to be behind the affliction known as “Havana syndrome.”

The National Intelligence Council, an analytic unit, stated in a March 2023 assessment that it was “very unlikely” foreign agents were to blame for what the spy agencies call anomalous health incidents, or AHIs.

But the subcommittee report said the assessment “lacked analytic integrity” and was “highly irregular” in its production.

“It appears increasingly likely and [subcommittee Chairman Rick Crawford, Arkansas Republican] is convinced that a foreign adversary is behind some AHIs,” the report said. “The intelligence community has attempted to thwart the subcommittee’s investigative efforts to uncover the truth at every turn.”

The panel called for a new assessment that addresses the earlier failures.

Nicole de Haay, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, said the intelligence community disagrees with many of the interim report’s findings and stands by the earlier assessment.

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

A CIA official said the agency continues to cooperate with the intelligence oversight committees on the issue.

“Any suggestion that we are withholding information could not be further from the truth,” the official said. “We have left no stone unturned.”

Mr. Crawford said that after several years of traveling around the world and holding meetings and hearings with those with experience with Havana syndrome, he had uncovered reliable evidence of foreign links.

“I have reason to believe that [intelligence community] claims of environmental or social factors explaining AHIs are false,” Mr. Crawford said in releasing the report.

Mr. Crawford is currently working on a more complete classified report that contains sensitive information previously unknown to the committee.

The subcommittee said the conclusions published by the Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines based on recent assessments by the intelligence community are “dubious at best, misleading at worst.”

The federal government also needs to improve medical care for victims of Havana syndrome, the report said, noting “many of the U.S. personnel involved in AHIs are continuing to suffer with ongoing medical issues.”

Beginning in 2016 in Cuba, in China and in a few cases in the United States, scores of U.S. diplomatic, intelligence and law enforcement officials have reported suffering unusual and painful symptoms after hearing sounds. In several cases, victims showed brain damage that some experts believe to be from a type of targeted energy.

Those affected include White House staff, diplomats, CIA officers, FBI agents and military personnel and their families, at home and abroad. The incidents produced medical conditions that include tinnitus, vertigo, head and ear pressure, nausea, and cognitive difficulties.

Sufferers said the maladies followed hearing loud, unexplained sounds and a feeling of pressure in ears caused by something coming from a specific direction.

The Pentagon is quietly working on detectors for what the military believes could be cognitive warfare by Russia, China or other adversaries, according to a person familiar with the effort.

Those who believe the incidents involve foreign weapons suspect the victims have been targeted with either pulsed radio frequency arms or ultrasound weapons.

China has developed sound weapons that have been offered for sale in catalogs produced by state-owned arms manufacturers.

A National Security Agency document from 2014 said Russia has microwave weapons that also are suspected in Havana syndrome attacks.

“AHIs represent a genuine and compelling danger to the [intelligence community] workforce,” the report said. “… There is evidence that the [intelligence community]  attempted to shape the 2023 AHI assessment to create a politically palatable conclusion and to impede investigative efforts that would uncover this effort.”