A senior Pentagon official who attended last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, had symptoms similar to those reported by U.S. officials experiencing “Havana syndrome,” the Pentagon confirmed Monday. .
Havana Syndrome is still under investigation, but includes a series of health issues dating back to 2016, when employees working at the U.S. Embassy in Havana reported sudden and unexplained head pressure, pain in the head or ears, and dizziness. did.
The injuries to U.S. officials and their families were part of a “60 Minutes” report on Sunday that suggested Russia was behind the incidents, including one during the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius. It was conducted.
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“We can confirm that a senior Pentagon official experienced symptoms similar to those reported in an unusual health incident,” Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters on Monday. Singh referred questions about whether Russia played a role to intelligence agencies, which are still investigating.
Singh said the official, whose identity was not disclosed, was not part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s official delegation to Vilnius, but was “part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit. He was reportedly in the area separately to attend a meeting.
Citing medical privacy, Singh did not say whether the affected defense officials would have to undergo further medical treatment, retire or stop performing their duties.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg (right) speaks with President Biden at the NATO-Ukraine Council meeting during the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 12, 2023. The Department of Defense confirmed that a senior Pentagon official who attended the summit made the following remarks. Symptoms similar to those reported by U.S. officials who experienced “Havana syndrome.” (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin, File)
In February, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said in its 2024 threat assessment that it was “unlikely” that a foreign adversary was the cause of the mysterious disease, but U.S. intelligence agencies expressed confidence in that assessment. pointed out that there were variations.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told reporters Monday that the department is confident in that assessment.
“Since March 2023, the general conclusion of the intelligence community is that a foreign enemy is unlikely to be the cause of these unusual health events,” Miller said. “This is something that the intelligence community has investigated extensively and continues to investigate. We will review new information as it comes in and work with the State Department and the intelligence community to evaluate it.”
Mitchell Valdez-Sosa, a leading Cuba-based researcher on the case, told The Associated Press that the “60 Minutes” report failed to provide any scientific basis for the existence of Havana syndrome. Ta. Valdes Sosa, director of the Cuban Neuroscience Center, is the de facto spokesperson on the matter for the Cuban Ministry of Health, which arranged the interview.
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“I don’t think this journalistic investigation provides any serious elements, especially the element that there is a new disease caused by mysterious energies,” he said. “Symptoms are very diverse. A variety of illnesses can cause them, including balance problems, sleep problems, dizziness, and difficulty concentrating.”
Valdez-Sosa has not objected to diplomats getting sick, but many of the incidents were due to common illnesses, and the high level of public attention led to the supposed phenomenon being erroneously blamed. He suggested that it may have been.
The Department of Defense Health System has established a registry for employees and dependents to report such incidents. But a five-year study conducted by the National Institutes of Health in March found no brain damage or degeneration among U.S. diplomats and other government employees who showed symptoms of Havana syndrome.
