By Ken Dilanian and Josh Lederman -
NBC News
In a new intelligence assessment, the CIA has ruled out that the mysterious symptoms known as Havana Syndrome are the result of a sustained global campaign by a hostile power targeting hundreds of American diplomats and spies, according to six people briefed on the matter. to our sister network NBC News.
In some two dozen cases, the agency cannot rule out foreign involvement
, including many of the cases that originated at the US Embassy in Havana beginning in 2016. Another group of cases is considered unsolved.
But in hundreds of other cases of possible symptoms, the agency has found plausible alternative explanations, the sources said.
[“It is as if I had aged 20 years”: those afflicted by the Havana syndrome break the silence]
The CIA declined to comment.
The idea that the symptoms of widespread brain injury have been caused by Russia or another foreign power targeting Americans around the world, either to harm them or to gather intelligence, has been deemed unfounded, according to the sources.
People who have experienced the possible symptoms of Havana syndrome and who have been informed about the evaluation have expressed deep disappointment, the sources said.
Some have pointed out that the CIA's findings are considered an interim assessment and have not been coordinated with other agencies, including the Department of Defense.
Embassy of the United States in Havana, Cuba, on May 20, 2021. Yamil Lage / AFP via Getty Images
“The CIA has acted on its own,” according to a person briefed on the results.
Still, hardly anyone who has been working closely on the issue is surprised that many recent cases of what the Biden Administration calls “anomalous health incidents” have plausible explanations unrelated to possible overt acts.
[Diplomats Lament Lack of Attention to Mysterious 'Havana Syndrome' Attacks]
When government agencies began urging any employee who had experienced unexplained headaches and dizziness to report it, it was inevitable that many of the cases did not fit the parameters of what the doctors had identified in the diplomats and spies who suffered brain injuries.
"Even two dozen cases is a lot if Americans were targeted," said one person briefed on the findings.
There is an intense information-gathering and analysis effort to resolve those cases, officials said.
Beginning in late 2016, U.S. diplomats and spies serving in Cuba began reporting strange sounds and sensations followed by unexplained illnesses and symptoms, including hearing and vision loss, memory and balance problems, headaches, and nausea. .
Over the years, many hundreds of American officials have reported suspicious incidents to each other in more than a dozen countries, as reported by NBC News.
[The FBI promises to help employees with symptoms of Havana syndrome]
In 2018, US intelligence officials considered Russia a prime suspect in what some of them assessed as deliberate attacks on diplomats and CIA officials abroad.
But in the three years since then, spy agencies have not uncovered enough evidence to pinpoint the cause or the culprit behind the health incidents.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine reported in a 2020 report that some of the observed brain injuries were consistent with the effects of directed microwave energy, something the report says Russia has long studied.
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Russia has consistently denied any involvement.
A team of medical and scientific experts who studied the symptoms of up to 40 employees of the State Department and other public administrations concluded that nothing similar had been documented in the medical literature, according to the report by the National Academies of Sciences.
Many reported hearing a loud noise and feeling pressure on their heads, and then experiencing dizziness, unsteadiness when walking, and visual disturbances.
Many suffered from symptoms of long-term weakness.
[Doctors Find Brain Changes in US Diplomats Made Sick by Mysterious Sound]
US authorities have long said they cannot be sure these are deliberate attacks or even the result of human activity.
But privately,
CIA Director William Burns referred to the incidents as attacks
.
One of Burns' aides suffered from the symptoms during a trip to New Delhi in 2020.
However, Burns and the director of national intelligence, Avril Haines, have endorsed the conclusions.
The CIA report is intended to respond to a concern that has intensified as more and more cases have become known: that a US adversary had managed to harm hundreds of Americans in dozens of countries while evading security systems. US screening
US officials stressed that the interim report was not a final conclusion of the Biden Administration or the entire intelligence community.
The White House National Security Council has convened a task force involving outside scientific and medical experts that is also examining Havana syndrome and is expected to release some findings in the near future.
[What is an acoustic attack, like the one that would have occurred against US officials in Cuba]
The Department of Defense, the FBI and the State Department continue to work to investigate the origins of the syndrome and how to mitigate it, according to officials.
Instead, the CIA interim report narrowly focuses on the number of incidents believed to be attributable to a foreign actor, according to the officials.
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Still, the report marks a significant shift in tone from the Biden Administration, which has made a showing point that it is taking the incidents more seriously than the administration of former President Donald Trump and has repeatedly emphasized the need to take the incidents seriously. victims.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken told our sister network MSNBC last week that he has held meetings with State Department employees who have reported incidents.
“I have heard them.
I have heard them.
You can't help but be shocked at how these incidents disrupted their lives and well-being," Blinken said.
“We are doing everything we can to serve them,” he
added.
['Sonic' attacks on diplomats: Biden Administration required to speed up investigation of cases]
The State Department had no immediate comment Tuesday.
U.S. officials said the CIA report does not change the Biden Administration's broader approach to the Havana syndrome, including an emphasis on removing stigma, encouraging employees with suspected incidents to come forward, and ensuring medical care. suitable for those affected.
