A Pentagon spokesman confirmed {that a} former US official had reported signs in step with the so-called Havana syndrome after attending final 12 months's NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.
Sabrina Singh made the announcement to reporters on Monday, a day after a media group pointed to hyperlinks between the mysterious sickness and alleged Russian brokers.
“I can verify {that a} senior DOD [Department of Defense] The officer skilled signs just like these reported in anomalous well being incidents,” Singh mentioned.
Experiences of Havana Syndrome date again to 2016, when employees on the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, started reporting unexplained signs, together with ringing within the ears, migraines, dizziness and fainting. cognitive
Since then, different instances involving diplomats with related signs have been reported elsewhere, together with in China and Austria.
Consultants have tried to find out what might have brought about the signs, with some speculating that international adversaries might direct vitality waves to the diplomats to trigger their diseases.
Nonetheless, in 2023, the US intelligence group concluded that it was “extremely unlikely” {that a} “international adversary is accountable” for the reported instances.
Nonetheless, a information investigation printed Sunday raised questions on whether or not Russia was actually concerned within the mysterious well being incidents — and whether or not the U.S. authorities was too fast to dismiss doable hyperlinks.
The report was the product of a joint investigation by the US newspaper 60 Minutes, the German newspaper Der Spiegel and The Insider, an investigative press centered on Russia.
He highlighted proof suggesting that members of a Russian navy unit identified by the quantity 29155 had been current a number of occasions when American officers reported signs in step with Havana syndrome.
Insider journalist Christo Grozev mentioned he discovered paperwork displaying a member of unit 29155 obtained a bonus for engaged on the “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons.”
The Insider additionally indicated that the alleged assaults might have began years earlier than the signs had been detected in Havana. He pointed to incidents in November 2014 in Frankfurt, Germany, when officers on the US consulate reported related signs.
The Russian authorities denied the reviews on Monday, calling them “baseless” and “baseless”.
“This isn’t a brand new subject in any respect. For a few years, the subject of the so-called Havana syndrome has been exaggerated within the press,” mentioned Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“However nobody has ever printed or expressed any convincing proof of those unfounded accusations anyplace.”
Final month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, a US authorities company, discovered no proof of mind accidents or different “organic abnormalities” in authorities staff allegedly affected by the syndrome. Havana.
However he famous that “these signs are very actual, they trigger vital disturbances within the lives of these affected and might be fairly extended, disabling and troublesome to deal with”.
Talking to the present 60 Minutes, a counterintelligence agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation – recognized solely by her first title, Carrie – described her expertise coping with Havana Syndrome in Florida.
“It was like a dentist drilling on steroids,” he mentioned. “It was like a metallic, high-pitched drilling noise, and it threw me ahead — like a 45-degree angle.”
In 2021, america Congress authorized the American Victims of Neurological Assaults Help Act (HAVANA) to offer compensation for presidency staff affected by signs associated to mysterious well being incidents .
Additionally on Monday, White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre briefly addressed the reviews, reaffirming that President Joe Biden's administration continues to push sources to analyze the supply of the signs.
“We’re taking this very severely,” he mentioned, whereas deferring particular inquiries to the intelligence group.
“We proceed to emphasise the significance of prioritizing, making certain that personnel are protected. And we are going to do all the things we will. That is one thing that this president believes is necessary,” he added.
“Look, we're going to proceed to do an intensive examination of the results right here that we're seeing and the potential causes of AHI. [anomalous health incidents].”
