An intelligence report by a panel of experts said on Wednesday, 2 February, that "Havana Syndrome" which affected several US officials, diplomats and spies, could have been caused by ultrasound or pulsed electromagnetic energy from an external source.
"Havana Syndrome" refers to a series of Anomalous Health Incidents(AHIs) which affected US diplomats and spies with a range of symptoms including ear pains, vertigo, nausea, and other sensory problems, with no apparent biological or psychosomatic cause.
Despite the CIA stating that fears of the incidents being connected to a foreign power were unfounded, this report says around 24 cases out of approximately 2,000 reported incidents couldn't be attributed to any environmental or psychological cause.
The report states that devices could exist capable of emitting pulsed electromagnetic energy which could trigger the health effects observed in these cases, stating that they could be a plausible cause.
The Intelligence Community (IC) panel was constituted in 2021 under the Director of National Intelligence and Director of the CIA to identify the causes of the AHIs.
The report adds that devices exist with "modest energy requirements" which could be concealable and also produce the symptoms witnessed in these AHIs.
Both, National Intelligence Director Avril Haines and the CIA's Director, William Burns added that while the investigation was not focused on identifying the culprit, it could help them to identify the origins of the ailments.
Findings of the US Intelligence Report
To identify a case,the panel narrowed the problem by focusing on four core characteristics:
The acute onset of audio-vestibular sensory phenomena which includes sound or pressure in one ear
Vertigo, loss of balance and ear pain
A “strong sense of locality or directionality”
The absence of known environmental or medical conditions that might cause the reported mysterious signs and symptoms.
The symptoms date the earliest cases reported to 2016.
"Pulsed electromagnetic energy plausibly explains the core characteristics, although information gaps exist", the report stated.
The report also added that "sources exist that could generate the required stimulus, are concealable, and have moderate power requirements."
However, the expert panel report also stated that there was a dearth of research on the effects of pulsed electromagnetic energy on humans, reports The Guardian.
On Wednesday, 2 February, a victims group issued a statement arguing that the new report by the expert panel, "reinforces the need for the intelligence community and the US government to increase their efforts to have a better understanding of the causes of Havana Syndrome".
“These piecemeal agency reviews at times reveal inconsistent and even contradictory results that undermine the effort to resolve this controversy.”Mark Zaid, Attorney for the victims, as reported by The Guardian
(Written with inputs from The Guardian.)
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