An anonymous reader shared this report from CNN:
New intelligence has led two US intelligence agencies to conclude that it’s possible a small number of mysterious health ailments colloquially termed as Havana Syndrome impacting spies, soldiers and diplomats around the world may have been caused by a “novel weapon” wielded by a foreign actor, according to intelligence officials and a new unclassified summary report released on Friday. However, the two agencies are in the minority and the broader intelligence community assessment remains that it is very unlikely that the symptoms were caused by a foreign actor, according to the unclassified report summary issued Friday — even as an official with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence [ODNI] emphasized that analysts cannot “rule out” the possibility in some small number of cases.
The subtle, technocratic shift in the assessment over the cause of Havana Syndrome has reignited a bitter debate that has split US officials, Capitol Hill and victims over the likelihood that the bizarre injuries were caused by a weapon or a host of disparate, natural causes. Sometime in the last two years, the US received new intelligence that indicated a foreign nation’s directed energy research programs had been “making progress,” according to the official. That led one unnamed intelligence agency to assess that there was a “roughly even chance” that a foreign country has used some kind of novel weapon against a small group of victims, causing the symptoms that the government officially calls “anomalous health incidents” — headaches, vertigo and even, in some cases, signs of traumatic brain injury. A second intelligence agency assessed a “roughly even” chance that a foreign actor possessed such a weapon but is unlikely to have deployed it against US personnel…
But both judgments were made with low confidence, according to the ODNI official. And critically, possessing a capability is not the same as proof that it has been used.
The article notes that U.S. intelligence and administration officials “do not doubt that the injuries are real and deserving of government compensation.” But one official in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told CNN “The intelligence does not link a foreign actor to these events. Indeed, it points away from their involvement.” And they added that all U.S. Intelligence Community components “agree that years of Intelligence Community collection, targeting and analytic efforts have not surfaced compelling intelligence reporting that ties a foreign actor to any specific event reported” as a possible anomalous health incident.
CNN adds that “the official said some evidence directly contradicts the notion that a foreign government was involved.”
The White House emphasized that research to determine the causes of the incidents is ongoing… On Friday, officials emphasized that the intelligence community is now supporting lab work on whether radio frequencies can cause “bioeffects” in line with what victims have reported. The latest findings from limited studies have shown mixed results, while previously most results had shown no effects, officials said. A panel of experts assembled by the intelligence community that studied a smaller set of incidents previously found that the symptoms might be explained by “pulsed electromagnetic or acoustic energy,” as opposed to environmental or medical conditions. “There was unanimous judgment by the panel that the most plausible explanation for a subset of cases was exposure to directed energy,” a second senior administration official said.
But complicating matters for victims and analysts is the fact that not all of those reporting Anomalous Health Incidents have the same set of symptoms — and the vast majority of cases have been explained by other causes, officials have previously said…