By Jonathan Landay
(Reuters) -A bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee report released on Friday criticized the CIA’s response to so-called Havana syndrome health problems among its workforce, saying many individuals did not receive adequate care.
The report cast no new light on the causes of the headaches, nausea, memory lapses, dizziness and other ailments that were first reported by U.S. embassy officials in the Cuban capital Havana in 2016.
A globe-spanning U.S. intelligence investigation concluded in March 2023 that it was very unlikely a foreign adversary was responsible for the ailments that afflicted some 1,500 U.S. diplomats, spies, other personnel and their families.
It found the symptoms, reports of which peaked in 2021 and have since dramatically tapered off, likely resulted from pre-existing conditions, conventional illnesses and environmental and social factors.
Commenting on the Senate findings, a CIA spokesperson said the agency had to respond to the “vexing” health problems as it grappled with the pandemic, and worked with other agencies to determine if a foreign power was attacking U.S. personnel and their families.
“Whether, in hindsight, we could have done better is for others to evaluate, but our commitment to ensuring our officers and their families had access to the care they needed has never wavered,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
FLAWED TREATMENT: VICTIM
Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA undercover officer who was the first agency Havana syndrome victim to go public, accusing it of failing to provide proper care, told Reuters committee investigators had “uncovered and observed first-hand the deep flaws in how the CIA has treated … victims.”
President-elect Donald Trump’s administration must address the report’s recommendations to ensure the CIA upholds a promise to care for officers injured in the line of duty, said Polymeropoulos, who suffered debilitating headaches after a 2017 visit to Moscow.
The committee’s report, the product of a year-long staff investigation, was largely based on hundreds of hours of testimony from CIA officials, other U.S. officials, medical personnel and those reporting symptoms, a panel statement said.
The report’s declassified summary said the unknown nature of anomalous health incidents (AHIs) complicated the CIA’s response, which the agency first based on an assessment that an attack causing traumatic brain injuries was responsible.
That assessment, the report said, changed with intelligence analyses leading to the 2023 intelligence community finding, and was one of several factors affecting how the agency provided medical care and other benefits to those reporting symptoms.
The absence of a clear definition of AHIs, uncertainty about their origins and the CIA’s “evolving organizational structure” for dealing with the issue have “greatly complicated CIA’s ability to consistently and transparently facilitate medical care,” the report said.
Those factors also complicated the agency’s provision of compensation and other benefits to those reporting symptoms as well as its ability to communicate clearly about AHIs to its personnel, the report continued.
The agency provided medical care in nearly “100 CIA-affiliated incidents, but many individuals faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care,” it said.
In another finding, it said the agency provided benefits and compensation to many personnel, but access to those programs has been inconsistent and affected by the way the CIA was organized to address the issue.
The CIA stopped collecting clinical data on AHIs even though some clinical studies identified unexplained clusters of symptoms, the report said, adding that Pentagon research efforts continue.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay in Washington; Editing by Rod Nickel)
