Two of seven U.S. intelligence agencies tasked with reviewing the source behind the mysterious "Havana syndrome" have shifted their stance by saying it's possible a foreign adversary might have developed or deployed a weapon responsible for the injuries.
"One judges there's roughly even chance a foreign actor has used a novel weapon or prototype device to harm a small undetermined subset of the U.S. government personnel or dependents who reported medical symptoms or sensory phenomena," an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said on a call with reporters, The Hill reported Friday.
"That language is very precise because none of those components can pinpoint or identify specific events, whether [in] Havana or anywhere else, because … they agree there's no intelligence linking any foreign actor to a specific event."
The new assessment was released by U.S. intelligence on Friday. Five intelligence agencies in the review concluded it was very unlikely that a foreign adversary was behind the incidents, according to a U.S. intelligence official who briefed reporters on the findings on condition of anonymity under rules set out by the ODNI.
Symptoms that included headaches, balance problems, and difficulties with thinking and sleep were first reported in Cuba in 2016 and later by hundreds of American personnel in multiple countries. U.S. embassy personnel working in Havana were the first to raise concerns, which later led the series of health effects to be dubbed Havana syndrome.
In the new assessment, the two agencies, which officials did not identify, did not find evidence linking any specific incident to a foreign technology, but based their findings on understandings of foreign weapon development and capability. One of the agencies found there was a "roughly even chance" that a foreign government used such a weapon or prototype device in a "small, undetermined" number of cases affecting U.S. personnel.
The report came a week after a bipartisan Senate Intelligence panel criticized the CIA's response to Havana syndrome health problems among its workforce, saying many individuals did not receive adequate care.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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