‘Havana Syndrome’ not a foreign campaign: report

January 20, 2022 08:46 pm | Updated 08:46 pm IST - Washington

The CIA has concluded that U.S. diplomats suffering mysterious headaches and nausea in what has been dubbed “Havana Syndrome” were not targeted in a global campaign by a foreign power, reports said on Wednesday.

The New York Times and Politico cited multiple officials briefed on a CIA assessment on the incidents that first surfaced among diplomats in 2016 in the Havana, in which U.S. and Canadian officials complained of headaches, and possible brain damage after hearing high-pitched sounds.

Since then, diplomatic and intelligence officials have reported similar experiences in countries including Australia, Austria, China, Colombia, Germany and Russia.

The reports said the CIA did not rule out foreign involvement in about two dozen cases that remain unexplained, which continue to be investigated.

“In hundreds of other cases of possible symptoms, the agency has found plausible, alternate explanations,” the NBC sources told the network.

Some U.S. officials previously alleged the cases could have been caused by Russian microwave attacks, but scientists expressed doubts about the theory and said there was not one affliction or cause of the reported cases.

The reports said the CIA document reported interim findings.

“The interim report was not a final conclusion of the broader Biden administration or the full intelligence community,” NBC reported, citing U.S. officials.

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