Foreign adversary likely behind Havana syndrome, House Intelligence officials say

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said in an unclassified report released Thursday that it “appears increasingly likely that a foreign adversary is behind some cases of what officials refer to as ‘abnormal health events'” — mysterious illnesses suffered by U.S. national security officials .

The House Intelligence Committee concluded in the report that a 2023 Intelligence Community Assessment of Abnormal Health Events (AHI), commonly called Havana syndrome“lacked analytical integrity and was highly irregular in its formulation.”

This 2023 report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence had deemed it “very unlikely“that a foreign adversary was behind the mysterious injuries, although it acknowledged that some intelligence agencies had only “low” or “moderate” confidence in that conclusion. Until now, that has been the government’s leading assessment of what is behind the Havana syndrome.

Thursday’s report also accused the intelligence community of interfering with the House Intelligence Committee’s ongoing investigation.

“Unfortunately, (the intelligence community) has actively tried to obstruct our investigation, but we have nevertheless been able to gather substantial evidence, and I have reason to believe that its claims about environmental or social factors explaining AHIs , are false,” said Rep. Rick Crawford, the chairman of the Central Intelligence Agency subcommittee that led the investigation.

What is Havana Syndrome?

A total of 334 U.S. service members have qualified for AHI care in the military health system by January 2024, according to Thursday’s report. They have symptoms that scientists say may be caused by a microwave beam 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.

A March 31 60 Minutes report on Havana syndrome, based on a five year studyrevealed new evidence of a potential Russian nexus tied to mysterious illnesses suffered by US national security officials.

Calls for a new intelligence community assessment

After the 60 Minutes report in March, a bipartisan group of lawmakers sent a letter to President Biden calls for a “reevaluation by the US government” of what officials call “abnormal health events.”

In the unclassified report released Thursday, House officials called on the intelligence community to release a new report on abnormal health events.

“The subcommittee is aware that the IC (intelligence community) continues to withhold valuable information from the subcommittee,” House leaders wrote. “For this reason, a final unclassified report cannot be issued at this time. Additionally, the subcommittee plans to issue a classified report explaining why the subcommittee finds the conclusions of the ICA (intelligence community assessment) questionable at best and misleading at worst.”

House Standing Committee on Intelligence Investigations

The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence said it conducted 48 interviews of current and former members of the CIA, FBI, ODNI, Defense Intelligence Agency and the US military, as well as interviews of non-government officials. Committee members reviewed more than 7,500 pages of official records and more than 3,400 pages of records provided by whistleblowers.

Based on their review, committee members said they believe the intelligence community engaged in “stonewalling, slow walking and cherry picking of information” in their Havana syndrome investigation.

“The Biden administration and IC (intelligence community) leadership have attempted to obstruct the subcommittee’s investigation into AHIs in order to keep the truth about AHIs from Congress and, by extension, the American public,” committee members wrote in Thursday’s report. “This is unacceptable.”

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence said it disagreed with many of the committee’s preliminary findings. An ODNI spokeswoman said: “Most IC agencies consider it highly unlikely that a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs and the claim that we are withholding information that contradicts this analysis or otherwise would shed light on this complex subject, is unfounded.”

Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA operations officer who was wounded in Moscow in December 2017, spoke about Thursday’s report.

“The report indicates to me that there was not only incompetence on the part of the CIA, but also intentional abuse,” Polymeropoulos said.

He was the first CIA officer to make his experience public.

“They failed to properly investigate the attacks, then analytically cooked the books while also launching a campaign to also denigrate the victims and deny them medical care. Taken as a whole, this is ultimately a staggering betrayal of the CIA’s own people. It is very difficult to stomach, from an organization that I dedicated my life to historic scandal at the CIA I am both angry but also feel vindicated in a very long seven-year struggle,” Polymeropoulos told 60 Minutes.

60 Minutes Havana Syndrome investigation

Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Army lieutenant colonel who led the Pentagon’s investigation into the unusual health events, previously told 60 Minutes that the bar for proof was set impossibly high. He said it was set so high because the country did not want to face hard truths, such as the existence of possible failures in protecting Americans.

After speaking with 60 Minutes, Edgreen testified for the House Subcommittee on Counterterrorism, Law Enforcement, and Intelligence.