U.S. investigated energy weapon, even aliens, but ‘Havana Syndrome’ origin still unclear

The U.S. intelligence community has concluded that hundreds of U.S. personnel around the world who since 2016 have reported symptoms consistent with brain injuries or neurological illnesses were unlikely to have been victims of covert attacks by a foreign adversary, after conducting what one intelligence official described as a “historic” investigation.

Scouring evidence in roughly 1,500 reported cases — which became known to the public as “Havana syndrome” after dozens of U.S. personnel in Cuba reported nausea, intense head pressure and other symptoms at the end of the Obama administration — seven intelligence agencies unanimously concluded that it was either unlikely or very unlikely that a foreign actor was responsible.

The intelligence community assessment, published on Wednesday, found evidence “consistently against” the involvement of foreign powers, one intelligence official familiar with the assessment said, finding that major adversaries were themselves perplexed over the series of cases.

But while the agencies all but ruled out foreign actors, they stopped short of concluding what actually caused the symptoms or determining if the cases were even linked.

“I think we have more confidence in what didn’t happen than what did,” the official said.

A second official said that there “is no one explanation for any of this,” underscoring the intelligence community’s finding that a foreign power was unlikely behind the phenomenon.

“We weren’t finding what we expected to find, frankly,” the second official continued. “The better question, from our standpoint, became, what is happening here?”

READ MORE: Diplomats under ‘health attack’ in Cuba were treated by Miami doctors

The findings may only deepen the mystery around “Havana syndrome,” which roiled U.S.-Cuba relations as Donald Trump took office and cast further suspicion on Russia. Last year, President Joe Biden signed a bill allowing for compensation of some “victims,” dozens of whom were treated and studied at the University of Miami in early 2017.

Hundreds of intelligence officials generated petabytes of data as part of the investigation, which began with the assumption that a foreign country was targeting U.S. personnel with some kind of radio frequency device. But the agencies assessed that foreign powers do not possess the kind of weapon that would be required to inflict the symptoms experienced by personnel, and could not identify a weapon that could feasibly be responsible for such a wide variety of cases — targeting individuals in line of sight, sometimes through concrete, without stopping their watches or flickering surveillance camera footage, the officials said.

“What you tend to see among key adversaries is confusion,” the first official said. “Many see a U.S. plot.”

Intelligence officials narrowed down the volume of reported cases to a core handful they believed they could trace back to a source of the problem, the officials said.

In one case, an officer reported symptoms after an unidentified car pulled up beside the officer’s vehicle. U.S. intelligence officials tracked down the car, and its owner, investigated their family and followed them for four months.

In another, drugs and weapons dealers who were in the vicinity were investigated for ties to foreign powers.

In several cases, faulty HVAC systems audible to most people sent off alarm bells among intelligence personnel who had been told to be on the lookout for signs they were being targeted, leading to reports.

LED computer mice also surprised intelligence officials for their ability to disrupt frequencies at some of the scenes of reported cases.

READ MORE: Senate passes bill to compensate ‘Havana Syndrome’ victims who suffered brain injuries

Intelligence officials even examined the possibility of extraterrestrial involvement, questioning whether the symptoms could be caused by a device in the sky — “no stone unturned,” the second official said.

Symptoms and suspicions

Early in its investigation, the intelligence community hoped to find a common set of criteria to identify as a syndrome behind the phenomenon. But no set of symptoms emerged.

“The problem is we are not seeing a common set of medical things,” the second official said.

Radio frequency and pulsed magnetic energy devices also tend to cause heat on the skin, which was not a consistent symptom among the reported cases.

U.S. officials also asked allies and partners if they had either seen any evidence of a device that could cause the phenomenon, or if their personnel had experienced similar symptoms themselves. “There wasn’t an upswell,” the first official said.

READ MORE: CIA creates task force on ‘Havana syndrome’ amid new scrutiny from Biden team

Several cases that occurred in the Cuban capital in 2016 that gave the series of anomalous health incidents its moniker, “Havana syndrome,” remain unexplained.

The first official acknowledged that it was easier to investigate cases in locations where the United States and its partners were “in control of the environment.”

“We did find in a few places electrical issues that may have contributed,” the official said, referring to the Cuba cluster.

The intelligence assessment was careful not to accuse personnel that came forward of succumbing to mass hysteria. But the officials familiar with the report said that environmental factors may have played a role in the spike in cases.

“The Intelligence Community Assessment released today by ODNI reflects more than two years of rigorous, painstaking collection, investigative work, and analysis by IC agencies, including CIA,” CIA Director Bill Burns said in a statement. “We applied the Agency’s very best operational, analytic, and technical tradecraft to what is one of the largest and most intensive investigations in the Agency’s history. I and my leadership team stand firmly behind the work conducted and the findings.

“I want to be absolutely clear: these 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,” Burns added.

But some reacted to the intelligence findings with surprise and concern.

“Upon first glance, I am concerned that the Intelligence Community effectively concluded that U.S. personnel, who reported AHI symptoms, were simply experiencing symptoms caused by environmental factors, illness, or preexisting conditions and is potentially rushing to a conclusion while a substantial number of questions remain,” said Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, a Republican serving as vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “As I have said before, something happened here and just because you don’t have all the answers, doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen. I will not accept that all these reported cases were just coincidences and I will continue to work on this issue until we receive real explanations.”

Intelligence officials that doubled down on their probe in the early months of the Biden administration thought from the outset that the prospect of a sophisticated, worldwide campaign, utilizing a weapon the United States neither knew of nor understood, was highly improbable.

READ MORE: What to know about Havana Syndrome, the illness affecting U.S. diplomats, CIA, staff

But as the number of cases grew in 2021, leaders in the administration and intelligence community adapted their approach to encourage the reporting of all potential cases as quickly as possible.

U.S. officials — especially those overseas — that experienced the sudden onset of heat, pressure or sound in the head, were instructed to move away from their immediate area and report their symptoms immediately to newly established health offices and hotlines.

But the officials said they discovered a wide variety of potential causes once they drilled down into the specific symptoms individuals experienced.

Case reporting has dropped “significantly” in recent months, one official said. While some cases have been reported in 2023, no clusters have been identified.

“It’s not that there weren’t leads. There were leads,” the second official said. “But every time we followed them up, they dissipated.”