An executive summary of a 2019 report by the FBI on Havana syndrome released Friday showed that ailments suffered by members of the U.S. Embassy in Cuba were more likely caused by a "social contagion" than any hostile action taken by the Communist government.
The report takes a skeptical view of Havana syndrome, using the word "victim" in quotation marks to describe people reporting symptoms, The New York Times reported Friday. The newspaper said it obtained the redacted executive summary as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
CIA officers and diplomats stationed in Cuba first reported symptoms in 2016, complaining of dizziness and nausea, often after hearing a noise or feeling pressure. American spies and diplomats in China, Austria, and other parts of the world also began reporting similar symptoms.
The growing number of complaints fed speculation that an adversary could have used covert high-tech weapons, or other devices, to injure American officials.
But U.S. intelligence agencies determined in 2023 a foreign adversary was "very unlikely" to be responsible for the mysterious ailments, the Times reported. They found no evidence that Russia, Cuba, or China was conducting a campaign by 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 FBI report highlights.
"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 stated, according to the Times.
Many of those subject to the ailments reject suggestions that psychological factors or mass hysteria were behind their symptoms, the Times reported. They criticized studies that raised doubts about whether Havana syndrome was associated with measurable head injuries and have pressed the government to keep investigating possible foreign causes. Intelligence officials said they continue to do so.
Under the Havana Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in October 2021, the federal government began compensating diplomats and spies who were disabled during their service, starting with CIA officers who had been forced to retire because of the severity of their symptoms, the Times reported.