The House Intelligence Committee is opening a review into the investigations done by U.S. spy agencies looking into the causes of Havana syndrome in an effort to question the findings that it was not the work of a hostile power, The New York Times reported Monday.
The intel panel sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines on Thursday that it is looking into “allegations of improper suppression” about the incidents that once resulted in debilitating symptoms to hundreds of diplomats, spy agency officers and military personnel, according to the Times.
U.S. intelligence concluded last March that the roughly 1,000 “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs) were not caused by an energy weapon or foreign adversary. Instead, the cases were “probably the result of factors … such as preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors.”
Attorney Mark Zaid, who then represented victims, called the findings “very disconcerting” and vowed to “challenge the conclusions.” Now he represents whistleblowers who are asserting “the executive branch is covering up what it actually knows about these incidents, to include the cause and foreign perpetrators.”
People afflicted with AHIs/Havana syndrome reported symptoms of severe migraines and vertigo, to name two, that first surfaced in diplomats and spies working at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba in 2016 and 2017. They reported hearing strange sounds as part of their illness. But then U.S. personnel began have similar symptoms in several other countries as well.
In some cases, the trauma was so intense, it forced government workers to willingly step away from their work after incurring physical and emotional suffering.
Depending on what the intelligence panel finds, it could reopen the debate over the root causes of AHIs and who or what was responsible for the outbreak, according to the Times.
Reports of AHIs have diminished to a small number of cases recently, the Times reported.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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