CIA Inspector General Examines Treatment of “Havana Syndrome” Cases

Some victims and former intelligence officials also report that the skepticism of some senior career officials – particularly under former CIA Director Gina Haspel – has made it difficult for victims to obtain proper care.

“On a bipartite basis, the House Intelligence Committee spoke to people with direct knowledge of how these health incidents are handled and how they have been handled in the past,” said a committee official. “As a result of this work, we are very concerned about the way that some people have not been able to access necessary benefits and medical care.”

Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was singled out even more in a statement Thursday: “It is shameful that US officials and their loved ones afflicted by these directed energy attacks have endured such hardships care as they need it, and that we still do not have clarity on causation. ”

Management overhaul

The Inspector General’s review, which has not yet reached the level of a formal investigation, specifically examines how sick officers are treated.

Former head of the task force to find the cause of these incidents, Cynthia Rapp, retired less than a year after taking office – the second key departure since Burns took command of the agency . The chief medical officer, considered by some former officers to be too skeptical of the mysterious illnesses, announced his retirement and was replaced earlier this year.

A briefing she gave to the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year came under scrutiny, during which senators were frustrated that they did not provide satisfactory answers to their questions about the incidents. and how the CIA handled them.

CNN was unable to reach Rapp for comment.

A CIA official said Rapp’s departure was unrelated to his performance at work.

“[Rapp] delayed his retirement for a few months out of dedication to the agency and its employees, ”said this person. “It was always a question of when, during the summer, she was going to make the transition. She took what was not a well-structured effort and turned it into a strong organization. “

Rapp’s replacement, who is undercover, is a counterterrorism veteran who was closely involved in the operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden.

“We have reduced the wait time before entering Walter Reed for our officers over eight weeks to less than two weeks,” he said. “We’re very focused on this.”

Burns has received praise from some former victims for his handling of the problem since taking over from Haspel, whom some victims have found to be slow to respond to what they see as a national security and personal health crisis.

“[Burns] has demonstrated a personal commitment to providing health care to wounded officers and also allocates appropriate resources and personnel to find out who is behind these attacks, ”said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA officer who retired at amid debilitating symptoms he began to suffer in Moscow in 2017, where he was involved in managing the agency’s clandestine operations in Russia.

“This is a most welcome change from the previous management team, which at times ignored the victims and treated this issue as an annoyance rather than a real challenge to national security,” he said. added.

Hot air balloon case

The challenge for government officials to follow these reports is that there is no surefire way to diagnose cases like Havana Syndrome, which the government calls “abnormal health incidents.” Victims suffer from a myriad of different symptoms both initially and over time, and scientists, engineers and medical experts are divided over whether all of the cases studied can be attributed to a single cause. .

Some victims reported experiencing sudden dizziness, headaches and pressure in the head, sometimes accompanied by a “piercing directional noise”. And some have said they can escape symptoms simply by moving to another room – and come back there by returning to their original position.

Other previously reported incidents have sickened US officials in China and the UK.

The strange episodes also hit the families of US officials overseas. A military officer was caught at an intersection in Tajikistan when he started to experience symptoms. Her baby started to cry and stopped as soon as the vehicle exited the intersection.

There have also been a number of episodes investigated as possible cases in the United States, CNN previously reported, including two staff members of President Donald Trump’s National Security Council who have were struck near the White House entry points.

From Russia with love?

Russia is one of the few countries that has devoted research and development to what some experts believe is the type of weapon that could cause symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome.

But the intelligence pointing to Russia as a possible culprit is all circumstantial, according to several sources familiar with the matter, making it difficult for analysts to assess with certainty that Moscow is behind the episodes.

“It’s possible, but… I don’t want to suggest until we can draw more definitive conclusions that it might be,” Burns told NPR. “There are a number of possibilities.”

In Africa, for example, Russia is seen as a likely suspect because Moscow – especially the quasi-official Russian mercenaries known as the Wagner Group – is known to have a presence across the continent.

But even the technology that could cause such an inconsistent set of symptoms is a matter of public debate.

A March report from the National Academy of Sciences found that “directed and pulsed radio frequency energy” was the most likely cause of the odd set of symptoms – known as microwave energy – but some officials warn that even this is not known for sure, and some academics have publicly dismissed the theory as unsubstantiated.

Then there is the question of intention.

Some officials tracking down Havana Syndrome suggest that, if a foreign adversary uses some sort of directed energy weapon, their purpose may not be to harass or maim American personnel, but rather to collect information from them. from their cell phones.

At least some former officials and lawmakers who follow the issue now believe that State Department and Defense Department personnel who have been ill around the world may have been collateral damage, and that the main target was officers. intelligence – yet another salvo in decades. tit-for-tat in the spy world between Russia and the United States.

But for now, as officers continue to be grieved across the world, the truth remains unknown.