The Havana Syndrome is the name given to the set of symptoms first reported by American diplomats in Havana that then spread to those working in other countries around the world, and even affecting Canadian diplomats. The symptoms included dizziness, headaches, and painful sounds in their ears. There were two questions. What was causing it? Was it due to the actions of a foreign governments? This issue was studied extensively by the US government and scientific researchers.
The US government has now released a report that says that they do not think it was caused by a hostile act by a foreign government.
US authorities believe it is “very unlikely” that a mysterious illness dubbed “Havana Syndrome” is caused by a hostile foreign power.
Since 2016, US diplomats around the globe have reported feeling symptoms, fuelling suggestions that Russia, China or other countries could be behind it.
…On Wednesday, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) released an unclassified assessment reflecting the view of seven government agencies which reviewed more than 1,500 “anomalous health incidents” across over 90 countries.
The victims have included intelligence officers, military and State Department staff and high-level aides to government figures such as Vice President Kamala Harris.
Of the seven participating agencies, five agreed that “available intelligence consistently points against the involvement of US adversaries in causing the reported incidents” and that it is “very unlikely”.
Levels of confidence between participating agencies, however, varied. The report noted that two agencies have “moderate-to-high” confidence in the assessment, while three have “moderate” confidence.
There were many theories as to the cause, from crickets to electromagnetic or ultrasound radiation, or some new and unknown exotic weapon. There have also been suggestions that it was psychosomatic and some form of mass hallucination, speculation that was angrily denounced by those who complained of the symptoms who felt that they were being gaslighted.
A previous report released by the US intelligence community in early 2022 determined that while the majority of cases could be explained by natural causes or stress, several dozen remained unexplained and could have been “plausibly” caused by a hidden device.
In a statement, CIA Director William Burns said that the findings “do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US government personnel and their family members – including CIA’s own officers – have reported while serving our country”.
I always thought that the idea that some government was behind it was implausible, so this report did not surprise me. The more intriguing question that I would like to see answered is the scientific one about what causes it. The fact that it has been reported in over 90 countries and mostly by US government personnel is very peculiar. Something that seems to be focused so narrowly on the affected person’s employment status while so broad in its geographical reach is a puzzle that is undoubtedly challenging. I find it hard to come up with even a far-fetched scenario that would explain both features.
We are not told in this report what common features exist among the “several dozen” unexplained cases that remain. That information would help in narrowing down the possible causes. I hope this is still being investigated.
I think selection bias is the most likley explanation there. The symptoms are mostly pretty generic, and only really become notable when they’re experienced by US government personnel, because they’re US government personnel, therefore almost all of the reports we have are from US government personnel.
I expect there are all sorts of people going to their doctors with similar symptoms every single day, for a variety of causes, but they don’t attract any interest from any of the agencies involved here.
I’m not sure I believe this was caused by some adversary of ours using an “exotic weapon.” I do believe, however, that if our intelligence community did suspect such a thing, they would not necessarily want to respond PUBLICLY to it, even — perhaps especially — if they were certain about it. I mean, what good would a public acknowledgment of such attacks against our personnel do at this time?
So unless they’ve come up with a plausible alternative explanation that covers most of the known instances of “Havana syndrome,” I’d be taking this latest report with a few teaspoons of salt.
For the short term, I just hope all the people suffering from this are getting the medical attention they need.
I expect there are all sorts of people going to their doctors with similar symptoms every single day, for a variety of causes, but they don’t attract any interest from any of the agencies involved here.
That’s certainly possible, but I suspect that once one government takes a high-level interest in such incidents, both they and other states would start to notice correlations; i.e., non-US persons admitting they had been in places where US persons had worked when they started having symptoms. And it’s not like no one else has ever heard of Havana syndrome — it’s almost inevitable that other countries’ doctors would start saying “You know, your symptoms sound like this ‘Havana syndrome’ thing I’ve heard Americans complaining about.”
Maybe the people who elect to become international spies are more likely to be hypochondriacs? Seriously -- they’re expected to be alert and observant and maybe that prines them to trigger on experiences that other people would ignore. I.e: they may be a self-selected sample.
I would look at any common product that is provided exclusively to the embassy that the local population would not use or have limited access to. And the Canadians would have procured that from the US since it would be more convenient and there are no lobbyist pushing for an exclusive Canadian product.
I assume they’ve looked at obvious things like pesticide which would be a logical thing with potential neurological effects. But that would also not be that discriminate in who is affected. But it could be something as dumb as toothpaste (just a random example) with a non-standard ingredient list that affect some people with a sensitivity to one ingredient or an unusual mix of them. And it would only affect non-locals.
I’m sure there are lucrative contracts for these that not many people are looking at except the ones making money and the ones taking their cut. And if these products have the same name/brand as what’s commonly available in the US but with a different ingredient list (likely for profit but possibly for legitimate reasons) then these become mostly invisible to everyone even those affected and those investigating. Or I’m a fool for thinking this is not obvious to everyone involved; however, I don’t remember this being mentioned as a possible cause.
Marcus: were all the people reporting those symptoms “international spies?”
My money is still on people being poisoned by asbestos or something like that. The government invented the secret weapon story, so they don’t have to pay for the medical bills.
I favor this explanation because it follows directly from people in power being short-sighted, dishonest, and greedy, which I take as a given.
I certainly can’t dispute the “people in power being short-sighted, dishonest, and greedy” part; but are the symptoms in these cases similar to the known symptoms of asbestos exposure?
Also, would a “secret weapon story” really get the government off the hook for medical bills? ISTR officials using “they’re just imagining things” or “we have no evidence of any real medical issue” for that purpose. Claiming a secret weapon wouldn’t do that, because it would still be an injury suffered at a work site, just like hazardous materials on site.
Marcus: were all the people reporting those symptoms “international spies?”
Every single one of them.
Hmm, what also happened in 2016? Maybe the cognitive dissonance of potentially having that *thing* as their boss drove them a bit mad. A unique version of Trump Derangement Syndrome affecting a narrow category of federal employees.
I was thinking along the same lines as Jean @5, but with a common contaminant, maybe chemical or biological, in various supplies. Such as a new packing material that some things are directly shipped in, and others already contaminated but removed from that material and shipped differently. Or a very common supply, like say packages of pens, contaminated long ago but just being opened and used at the time the afflictions start at each location.
But calling something psychosomatic is not an accusation of fakery. A psychosomatic origin for a symptom does not dispute the symptom, it is only a statement as to the origin of that symptom -- the mind. The headache is real, and comes from (speculative) the expectation that spending time in this office induces headaches.
This sort of thing comes up regularly when debunking people’s supposed EM sensitivity.
#9 Marcus
Really? In your mind, every member of staff at an embassy is engaged in spying, even the receptionists??
@10:
Christ! You’re saying it’s yet another negative consequence of the Brexit vote?
Marcus, it looks like your account was hacked by an Iranian propagandist. Old-school dude too, like back when Khomeini was alive and every American seen abroad was suspected of being a CIA agent.
A psychosomatic origin for a symptom does not dispute the symptom, it is only a statement as to the origin of that symptom — the mind.
True, but sometimes such statements translate to a denial of coverage for a medical treatment that might treat the symptom.
@Holms, 12:
Every member of an army at war is engaged in war. This does not just mean the grunts on the front line pulling the triggers, it includes the people cooking their meals and the ones making sure the bullets arrive on time and are being pointed in something like the right direction. (“Remfs”). Most people out of primary school understand this concept.
I think it’s absolutely fair to assume that every single US citizen employed by their government who is on foreign soil (along with every single adult member of their family also on foreign soil) is there engaged in espionage. Anne Sacoolas demonstrated that the fuckers are licensed to kill with impunity, for example.
If you were in a country treated by the US as a hostile foreign power (e.g. the UK), would you trust ANY US citizen in your country to NOT be a spy?
I think it’s absolutely fair to assume that every single US citizen employed by their government who is on foreign soil (along with every single adult member of their family also on foreign soil) is there engaged in espionage.
It’s not at all fair to ASSUME that, unless you stretch the definition of the word “espionage” so broadly that it loses all meaning.
Seriously, you’re dangerously close to suggesting an “open season” on Americans working abroad. Can’t we criticize US actions without resorting to that sort of bullshit?
I have an idea, based on “The Thing” (no, not that one — the passive listening device invented by the same engineer who invented the theremin), and vague memories of the laser that gets bounced off windows to monitor speech in the room inside.
If it is a known fact that signals intelligence can be harvested by monitoring speech — sonic vibrations — in a room, then at least one obvious countermeasure is to deliberately induce vibrations (noise, or music, or some other speech) in the room that would disrupt and interfere with the speech vibrations. This could be done not by using a normal speaker (since they presumably would want conversations to proceed without the participants being bothered), but by device(s) in the floor and/or ceiling and/or walls and/or window and door frames.
However, the induced vibrations might, possibly, have subsonic or ultrasonic components that would make people feel unwell, and some frequencies might have harmonics that could be heard (“painful sounds in their ears.”).
So, yeah, it’s not foreign weapons or espionage devices being used; it’s domestic espionage countermeasures. (Technical truth is the best kind of truth, in the intelligence community.) And nobody wants to explain this because victims might sue, the intelligence community might be deprived of a useful tool, and maybe foreign agents and/or double-agents might be motivated to figure out ways to disrupt or bypass the countermeasures, et cetera.
The above is rank speculation, and should not be accepted without qualification. Maybe someone has a good counterargument why it cannot be the case, but until I see such a counterargument, I’ll continue to offer it as a good working hypothesis.
#15 RB
Ah, chalk that one up to the bloody awful thing USA calls its health care system.
#16 sonof
Sure, but that does not mean every one of them is a soldier. Marcus said all of the people reporting the symptoms were “international spies”.
You are either incredibly silly, or ignorant as to the sheer breadth of people sent to work abroad by the US government.
Also — thinking about “crickets” leads to the further speculation that one possible source of noise used as a countermeasure is ambient outside noises. Traffic, crickets, frogs, birds — all making enough noise to confuse any listeners, but also confuse and irritate those experiencing the countermeasures inside.
Just chumming the waters.
Are we sure it’s not caused by trace amounts of fentanyl on money? As we know, that knocks cops flat on their asses so maybe less fragile people just get these sort of symptoms.
Christ! You’re saying it’s yet another negative consequence of the Brexit vote?
Does that mean we’ll have to rename it “BoJoBlight?”
Tabby: That would be a bit weird, if that many contaminated bills found their way to Americans working abroad. You’d have to look at which banks dispensed cash to US customers from their ATMs, and where the cash came from…