F.B.I. Releases Redacted Report on Havana Syndrome
The F.B.I. on Friday released a redacted portion of a 2019 report that was one of the first to argue that the mysterious ailments known as Havana syndrome were likely not the result of hostile action, and instead were the result of “social contagion.”
Some current and former officials have said the F.B.I. analysis sowed doubt within the C.I.A. and parts of the Trump administration toward the root causes of Havana syndrome and whether it was in fact a functional illness spurred by stress.
As a result, people with symptoms of Havana syndrome and their legal representatives have long disparaged the F.B.I. findings, noting that the investigators reviewed records but did not interview victims.
The New York Times obtained the executive summary of the report as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
C.I.A. officers and diplomats stationed in Cuba first reported injuries from Havana syndrome in 2016, complaining of dizziness and nausea, often after hearing a noise or feeling pressure. Later, American spies and diplomats in China, Austria and other parts of the world began reporting similar symptoms. The growing number of complaints fed intense speculation that an adversarial power could have used covert high-tech weapons, or other devices, to injure American officials.
When the Biden administration took office, officials were initially skeptical of the F.B.I.’s conclusions. The C.I.A., State Department and other agencies pledged to improve health care for people suffering from symptoms associated with Havana syndrome and to conduct a renewed inquiry into the causes. The C.I.A. formed a cell that scrubbed intelligence reports to see if an adversarial state was responsible.
But the C.I.A. and then the Office of the Director of National Intelligence concluded it was very unlikely a foreign power was behind the ailments. They found no evidence that Russia, Cuba or China was carrying out a campaign using devices capable of delivering directed energy. Instead, the reviews attributed many of the symptoms to underlying medical issues, environmental factors and stress — the same factors the 2019 F.B.I. report highlights.
The 2019 report takes a skeptical view of Havana syndrome, using the word “victim” in quotation marks to describe people reporting symptoms.
“Based on information available at the time this report was prepared, our analysis indicates several of the ‘victims’ in these cases may have experienced an episode of mass psychogenic illness or social contagion,” a partly redacted sentence in the report said.
The F.B.I. said it had begun investigating the cases out of Havana in May 2017 and the cases out of China in May 2018. The inquiry first appeared to focus on any weapon or devices that could have been a cause. “This case revolves around the issue of whether an unknown offender(s) used an unknown device that may emit frequencies or waves to injure these individuals,” the report said.
But the report concludes that many of those reporting ailments had experienced “fairly common symptoms” from “predetermined medical conditions” or environmental factors.
Like subsequent studies, the report stated that the bureau could not “identify any single cause for these symptoms.”
Many of those subject to the ailments have continued to reject suggestions that stress, environmental factors or mass hysteria were behind their symptoms. They have criticized studies that raised doubts about whether Havana syndrome was associated with measurable head injuries, and have pushed the government to continue investigating possible foreign causes. Intelligence officials say they continue to do so.
Under the Havana Act, the U.S. government began compensating diplomats and spies who had been disabled during their service, starting with C.I.A. officers who had been forced to retire because of the severity of their symptoms.