House Committee Blasts Intelligence Community In 'Havana Syndrome' Report, Concludes Foreign Adversary 'Increasingly Likely' Behind The Mysterious Illness

A foreign adversary is likely behind some cases of what officials refer to as "anomalous health incidents" (AHI) or Havana Syndrome, a mysterious illness that affected U.S. national security officials, according to a recent unclassified report released Thursday from the House Intelligence Committee.

U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford (R-AR), the chairman of the House intelligence subcommittee overseeing the Central Intelligence Agency, published an interim report Thursday on an inquiry that began in February into how U.S. intelligence agencies handled the Havana Syndrome.

"It appears increasingly likely and the Chairman is convinced that a foreign adversary is behind some [of these incidents]," the report says. "The Intelligence Community has attempted to thwart the Subcommittee's investigative efforts to uncover the truth at every turn."

A total of 334 American officials have qualified for AHI care in the military health systems as of January 2024, CBS News reports. They have symptoms that scientists say could be caused by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. White House staff, CIA officers, FBI agents, and military officers and their families are among those who say they were wounded by a secret weapon.

U.S. and Canadian officials affected by the incidents, first in Havana, then in Russia, Europe, China and even Washington, D.C., said they heard noises or felt pressure coming from a specific direction. They also developed debilitating symptoms like migraine, memory loss, ear pain and cognitive problems.

Havana Syndrome represents a "genuine and compelling danger" to U.S. intelligence workers that "has not been fully realized by Intelligence Community leadership," the report says, adding that there is evidence that "intelligence officials tried to create a "politically palatable conclusion" and "impede investigative efforts that would uncover this effort."

That is a response to a 2023 report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence that had deemed it "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious injuries, though it did acknowledge that some intelligence had only "low" or "moderate" confidence in that conclusion.

The new report also accused the intelligence community of interfering with the subcommittee's ongoing investigation.

"Sadly, the [intelligence community] has actively attempted to impede our investigation, but we have nonetheless been able to gather significant evidence and I have reason to believe that its claims of environmental or social factors explaining AHIs are false," Crawford said.

But the intelligence community disagrees with the assessment. For instance, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the Miami Herald the community "does not agree with many of the report's interim findings."

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

The spokesperson also said the agencies' investigation of the incidents "was among the most comprehensive in our history, bringing to bear the [intelligence community's] full operational, analytic, and technical capabilities and those of our partners."