By Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A majority of U.S. intelligence agencies have reaffirmed in an updated assessment that it is “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for so-called Havana Syndrome ailments, a U.S. intelligence official said on Friday.
The ailments were first reported by personnel at the U.S. embassy in Havana in 2016, leading to suspicions they might have been deliberately caused by a foreign power, or by non-state foreign attackers. Cuba repeatedly denied any involvement.
Five of seven spy agencies involved in a years-long investigation “continue to assess it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible” for the migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness suffered by hundreds of U.S. spies, diplomats, other personnel and their families, the U.S. official said in a briefing for reporters.
Two other agencies, however, have shifted their judgments since an original 2023 assessment that discounted the likelihood that a foreign foe caused the ailments, said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence official.
One of those agencies now believes there is a “roughly even chance” that a foreign actor used “a novel weapon or prototype device” against “a small, undetermined subset of U.S. personnel or dependents” who reported symptoms, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The second agency judged that there was a “roughly even chance” that a foreign actor has developed such a weapon or prototype, but it was unlikely it deployed such a device, the official said.
The official did not identify any of the seven agencies involved in the new assessment of what the U.S. government calls “anomalous health incidents.”
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Erin Banco; Editing by Frances Kerry)
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