Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

Havana syndrome: Most cases not caused by foreign power - CIA (BBC News, Jan 20, 2022)
CIA report says ‘Havana Syndrome’ not a foreign power campaign (South China Morning Post, Jan 22, 2022)
CIA report: no evidence linking Havana Syndrome to a foreign country (NPR, Jan 20, 2022)

The new CIA-prepared interim finding assesses that the vast majority of reported cases can be explained by medical, environmental or technical factors — including previously undiagnosed illnesses — and that it is “unlikely” that a malicious state actor is inflicting purposeful harm on U.S. diplomats on a far-reaching, worldwide scale. The broader intelligence community has varying levels of confidence in that assessment.
“There’s no one explanation” for the large number of reported cases around the world, a senior CIA official said, insisting “we don’t see a global campaign by a foreign actor.” There are still unresolved cases, the official continued, and the CIA is still open to the notion that a nation-state or specific device is causing symptoms such as headaches and nausea — if the agency finds evidence to that effect.
U.S. foe or specific weapon not behind sustained, global campaign causing 'Havana Syndrome, CIA finds (Politico, Jan 19, 2022)

Mark Zaid, a Washington lawyer representing intelligence officers who have reported cases, asserted that the CIA is having a “revolt within its workforce” among people who do not want to take overseas assignments for fear of being attacked.
Of the findings, Zaid tweeted, “Too bad this is contradicted by classified information that CIA won’t release.” Zaid did not immediately respond to a message seeking further comment.
CIA: Most ‘Havana syndrome’ cases not linked to US adversary (Federal News Network, Jan 22, 2022)

Video: Ryan Grim and Robby Soave react to breaking news on the CIA's assessment of the cause of Havana Syndrome.

Authorities lie all the time. But conspiracy theorists reach too far, a lot of the time. (...) In this case, it was actually the authorities who were the conspiracy theorists.
The Hill: BREAKING: CIA says Havana Syndrome NOT a result of "a sustained worldwide campaign" by hostile power (Yahoo News, Jan 20, 2022 - 9:06 min.)

 

[TurkeysGhost]

RIP commie headache gun.

 

[The Atheist]

CIA Says ‘Havana Syndrome’ Not a Foreign Power Campaign: Reports (VOA News, Jan 20, 2022)

At last, the final proof!

If the CIA says it, it's not true, so there clearly is a Havana Syndrome.

 

[dann]

CIA Backtracks on Havana Syndrome after Director Issued Warning to Russian Spies (Newsweek, Jan 20, 2022)

 

[dann]

To some of us, it doesn't come as a surprise at all, but yesterday we were told that ...

In a new intelligence assessment, the CIA has ruled out that the mysterious symptoms known as Havana Syndrome are the result of a sustained global campaign by a hostile power aimed at hundreds of U.S. diplomats and spies, six people briefed on the matter told NBC News.
CIA says 'Havana Syndrome' not result of sustained campaign by hostile power (NBC News, Jan 20, 2022)

The spy agency has assessed it's "unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism," they added.
(...)
Since then (Havana, 2016-17), scores of cases have been reported on nearly every continent in over a dozen countries, especially after the CIA and State Department urged employees to come forward if they experienced symptomsCIA says foreign actor may be behind some Havana syndrome cases (ABC News, Jan 21, 2022)

U.S. officials — especially those overseas — who experienced the sudden onset of heat, pressure or a painful sound in the ears, were instructed to move away from their immediate area and report their symptoms immediately to newly established health offices and hotlines. That encouragement of reporting resulted in a slew of newly reported casesIf ‘Havana syndrome’ isn’t a global, coordinated attack as CIA now says, then what is it? (Miami Herald, Jan 20, 2022)

And one CIA operative (?), a victim of the alleged syndrome, "who asked that his name not be used because of his work for the agency," went as far as to say that ...

... the government had erred by pushing for more people to report ill health or unexplained symptoms. That brought in thousands of extraneous cases, the victim said, making it harder for the agency’s analysts to focus on the real cases.
Most ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Unlikely Caused by Foreign Power, C.I.A. Says (NYT, Jan 20, 2022)

Until a week ago, we were told about the retaliation that would follow as soon as the culprit was found, which begs the question: Now that we know exactly who spread the 'syndrome' to U.S. government employees all over the world - we know many of those responsible by name! - how will they be punished? It doesn't seem fair that they will go unpunished just because they happen to be Americans instead of a foreign "hostile power", does it?!

What about the people in charge of sacking Pamela Spratlen and the head of the CIA office in Vienna?
And what about the people who misinformed lawmakers like Susan Collins, Jeanne Shaheen and Marco Rubio?

Officials from across the government have told lawmakers repeatedly in classified briefings over the past year that U.S. investigators believe the incidents, especially those that have caused traumatic brain injuries, are the result of directed-energy attacks, most likely at the hands of a hostile foreign government such as Russia.
(...)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), an Intelligence Committee member who has met with Havana Syndrome victims, said she was “surprised at many of the findings, which seemed to contradict other testimony that we have had." She added that she's "reassured that the CIA is committed to taking care of people" who have suffered medical problems.
(...)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), who has personally assisted victims through her office, continued to refer to the incidents as “suspected directed-energy attacks” in a statement, and said she was “undeterred” in her efforts to assist victims.
(...)
“It’s important to note that the CIA’s current assessment on what and who may be behind [anomalous health incidents] that have affected U.S. intelligence and diplomatic personnel reflects only the interim work of the CIA task force,” Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said.
Lawmakers skewer interim CIA report on Havana Syndrome (Politico, Jan 2022)

Asked whether he would raise the issue with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov when they meet Friday, Blinken declined to comment Thursday.
CIA says foreign actor may be behind some Havana syndrome cases (ABC News, Jan 21, 2022)

Is an apology to the foreign hostile power in place?

 

[dann]

Collins said Thursday she was “surprised by many of the CIA’s findings” after meeting with afflicted public servants, saying it was “difficult to reconcile the findings of the expert task force at the CIA with other evidence and testimony.” But she said the CIA has been attentive to the issue and the new law will improve care for victims regardless of the reasons for their illness.
Susan Collins ‘surprised’ by CIA ruling out US foes in ‘Havana Syndrome’ cases (Bangor Daily News, Jan 21, 2022)

Yes, Susan Collins, that's called cognitive dissonance, and the solution isn't to try to reconcile two contradictory, mutually exclusive ideas. The solution is to understand that people can both be ill and misunderstand the cause of their illness, i.e.that illness does not equate Russians with ray guns!
It is not nearly as difficult to grasp as you make it out to be!

 

[dann]

Victims who have come forward reporting symptoms of ‘Havana Syndrome’ are devastated after the CIA reported that the syndrome is not the result of a sustained campaign by hostile power. The group Advocacy for Victims of Havana Syndrome said, “This cannot and must not be the last word on this matter, because it is neither definitive, nor comprehensive.”
‘Havana Syndrome’ victims devastated after CIA report on illness (NBC News, Jan 20, 2022)

Includes an interview with Josh Lederman (4:36 min).

Havana Syndrome cases have plausible explanations.
CIA finds many Havana Syndrome cases have plausible explanations (CNBC Television on Youtube, Jan 21, 2022)

Also with Josh Lederman.

A CIA investigation has not found evidence that a foreign country was responsible for mysterious ailments suffered by hundreds of U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials in multiple countries in recent years.
CIA report: No evidence linking Havana Syndrome to a foreign country (Euro News on YouTube, Jan 20, 2022)

The CIA has finally admitted that there is no evidence of nefarious foreign powers behind the mysterious "Havana Syndrome" that injured US diplomats and their staff and perplexed scientists who continue their search for its cause. CIA whistleblower John Kiriakou weighs in. He suggests that exposure to black mold or sensitivity to cell phone radiation could play a role in the condition.
CIA admits 'Havana Syndrome' unlikely caused by anti-American villains (RT on YouTube, Jan 21, 2022)

Unfortunately, John Kiriakou tries to replace one version of mass psychogenic illness, the 'Havana Syndrome', with two others, EHS (e.g. 5G) and sick building syndrome (black mold).
It is not unlikely that the CIA itself may be trying to do the same thing. Remember what Politico wrote: "The new CIA-prepared interim finding assesses that the vast majority of reported cases can be explained by medical, environmental or technical factors."

 

[Checkmite]

Havana syndrome: Most cases not caused by foreign power - CIA (BBC News, Jan 20, 2022)

How about that. It's almost like letting the relevant organization take notice of a supposed problem and conduct an actual thorough investigation instead of just laughing it off and ignoring the complaints of its employees isn't really the death of rationality or headlong dive into pseudoscience that some were bent on framing it as.

 

[Orphia Nay]

Is an apology to the foreign hostile power in place?

That's about as unlikely as directed energy weapons themselves.

 

[dann]

How about that. It's almost like letting the relevant organization take notice of a supposed problem and conduct an actual thorough investigation instead of just laughing it off and ignoring the complaints of its employees isn't really the death of rationality or headlong dive into pseudoscience that some were bent on framing it as.

Your belief in 'relevant U.S. American institutions' is amazing, Checkmite! Several relevant organizations already conducted thorough investigations and dismissed the lunatic idea that spies and diplomats were attacked by first sonic weapons and later directed microwave energy weapons, but their reports were kept secret and laughed off by the CIA when leaked.
You yourself believed the first reports about attacks by a hostile enemy in Havana - until independent researchers revealed that the recordings were of lovelorn crickets. Later on, your belief was revived by the NAS report because it was conducted by what you claimed were the upper echelons of U.S. American science - and yet the researchers were denied access to CIA data about the 'syndrome' sufferers that could have contributed to revealing the truth about the 'Havana Syndrome'.

And now you are singing the praise of the organization that did nothing but obstruct the thorough investigations by relevant organizations - for whatever reason: prestige, i.e. vanity? power?

You are praising the organization that promulgated the big lie of the 'Havana Syndrome' until it grew out of all proportions and freaked out the whole corps of diplomatic employees (and apparently spies as well) to the extent where they became frightened of being deployed in the rest of the world. Or in other words: until the big lie blew up in their faces and the only way to keep it alive would have been to wage an actual war against the imaginary perpetrator, Russia!

And even at this point, the big lie, albeit considerably smaller now, that the 'Havana Syndrome' at its place of origin may still, somehow, have constituted an attack, something, which you of all people should know is utterly absurd since you participated in this thread when we found out that the 'sonic attacks' were nothing but lovelorn crickets, this lie still cannot be allowed to die!

I am happy to see you come around, again, Checkmite, but you seem to have learned nothing worthwhile from the whole 5-year-long story. It is obvious the reason why you feel the need to claim that those of us who very early on reached the conclusion that the 'Havana Syndrome' was a case of mass psychogenic illness were "just laughing it off and ignoring the complaints of its employees" - unlike you, I suppose, who is then the noble hero taking the complaints of diplomats and (as we later found out) CIA spies seriously instead of dismissing them. (Many of those complaints are laughable, by the way, and should be laughed off. Laughing off the only rational explanation, mass psychogenic illness, doesn't seem to offend you at all!)

But the paranoia of those CIA spies was the thing that set the whole thing in motion in the first place, aided and abetted by an administration that was more than willing to believe in lies about Cuba because they served to justify the dismantling of the U.S.-Cuban diplomatic relations that had been established by the governments of Obama and Raúl Castro. And the current administration's interest in continuing Trump's (and little Marco's) hostility towards Cuba, in spite of the promises made by Biden before he was elected, is probably the major reason why the delusion of the 'Havana Syndrome' cannot simply be abandoned once and for all. (Another reason is the vanity of institutions and researchers who have invested their prestige in reports about alleged attack-induced brain damages. I don't doubt that some of those were busy trying to persuade the Senate committee of their ideas until the very end - to the extent where the prestige of those committee members now depends on keeping the lie alive!)

The USA and its institutions are founded on lies and don't seem to be able to survive without them.

 

[dann]

In her book, The Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories of Mystery Illness, Suzanne O'Sullivan investigates several cases of mass psychogenic illness all over the world. She stresses the importance of looking at the whole context that gives rise to an MPI and turns it into a kind of solution to a problem, albeit a very dysfunctional solution, which may give rise to new stories about the cause of this 'solution'.
In Denmark, for instance, the HPV scare of 2015 seemed to disproportionally affect girls who were very ambitious athletes.
O'Sullivan describes a HPV scare in Colombia where the origin story is somewhat different.:

'Do the seizures have a pattern?' I asked.
She thought for a while before saying, 'They happen when I think too much.'
So many of the girls associated their symptoms with anxious thoughts, but they then overlooked the importance of that and searched for alternative explanations. (p. 172)

The favored alternative explanation being the HPV vaccines, which made it possible for them to blame something other than what actually gave rise to their "anxious thoughts".

In Denmark, I got the impression that the story about the HPV vaccinations provided many of the girls with an excuse for not being able to live up to their own (and maybe their families') ambitions: They didn't just quit or give up. They were forced to give up because something, the vaccines, made them too sick to continue. The story of the vaccinations gave them an out, but not in any calculated way, as a subterfuge. They did have the symptoms.

An important part of the context is the story, sometimes including myths and superstitions, depending on the culture of the setting where a case of mass psychogenic illness occurs.
Robert Bartholomew describes the background story of the 'Havana Syndrome' like this:

To an outside observer, the notion that intelligence officers were being targeted with a device that used sound waves to make them sick, may appear far-fetched. However, it seemed plausible in the historical context of U.S.-Cuban relations. Prior to the new embassy opening under the Obama administration in 2015, there had been a long and well-documented history of Cuban agents harassing American diplomats in Havana during the Cold War. Embassy workers would wake up in their homes only to find furniture and bookshelves rearranged, animal faeces and urine on their floor, and cigarette butts on their kitchen table, even though they didn’t smoke or have a pet. The Cubans were known to deflate tires, shine lights into diplomats’ homes, and suddenly cut their water or electricity supply.
Havana Syndrome Hysteria and the Great Wild Goose Chase (Skeptic, Oct 9, 2021)

One thing is the story, quite another thing is what may or may not actually have happened. As skeptics, we are familiar with very similar stories about haunted houses where things mysteriously aren't where people remember leaving them, and we know that those stories are very likely due to false interpretations of what actually happened, much like when the eyeglasses or the screwdriver is no longer where we remember putting it. In a 'spooky' house, occurrences like this are interpreted as the deed of poltergeists, whereas in Havana they were interpreted as the sinister deeds of Cuban security agents, as were deflated tires, shining lights and the cutting of water or electricity.

Having spent close to one year combined in Cuba, I know from personal experience that you cannot rely on water or electricity not being cut now and then. It can be very annoying when it happens, but it never made me have other than the immediate concerns about being able to use the bathroom. But I also had no reason to suspect that those things happened because the Dirección de Inteligencia was out to get me, which would have been very surprising since I didn't think that I gave them any reason for harassing me. If I had rented a car or a motorcycle in Cuba, which I've never done, and its tires had been deflated, I also wouldn't suspect the Cuban state intelligence agency to be the culprit, but it is obvious why American CIA operatives do so.

As for the "animal faeces and urine", I wonder what would be the point of something like that: Why would Cuban state operatives do something so childish and pointless? In the stories that CIA operatives told each other, the purpose would have been mere harassment, a story that I would never have come up with. (And the one time I found a frog in the kitchen of a 3rd-floor apartment, there was a much more logical explanation: Cuban tree frog. It is amazing to see it climb a bathroom wall! By the way, as mentioned in the article, this may also occasionally be the cause of power cuts! )

Unlike 1961, the CIA lies about the 'Havana Syndrome' stopped short of causing an actual war this time. I am glad that it didn't, but it doesn't make me admire the CIA and its "thorough investigation".

 

[Checkmite]

Your belief in 'relevant U.S. American institutions' is amazing, Checkmite! Several relevant organizations already conducted thorough investigations and dismissed the lunatic idea that spies and diplomats were attacked by first sonic weapons and later directed microwave energy weapons, but their reports were kept secret and laughed off by the CIA when leaked.

lol, no they weren't. The CIA didn't laugh at anything, and none of the reports were "kept secret". Major news organizations were discussing said reports when they were released, publicly. The CIA and State Department investigators chose not to comment until their own investigation was complete.

Which, it now is. Surprise (maybe to you, but not to me), they've come to a conclusion that is consistent with the consensus of the other bodies who have explored the problem, and as a bonus even with several individuals who didn't explore the problem at all but gave an opinion anyway. The investigation took a little longer than the others; but it is now clear that wasn't a sign of spinning, irrational thinking, or indulging in pseudoscience, but likely just a natural result of a government agency that is required to meticulously document everything in triplicate.

 

[dann]

Checkmite is simply making things up at this point:

1) The CIA dismissed anything that didn't support the idea that its operatives were being attacked.
2) An FBI report and the JASON report were kept secret. The latter only "obtained by Buzzfeed News via a Freedom of Information Act request" three years later.
3) The CIA and State Department investigations didn't begin till last year during the Biden administration.
4) The CIA investigation is not complete. I don't know what it is about the word interim that Checkmite does not understand.
5) If the CIA investigation had started when the others did, it would have taken much longer, not just a little longer, than the others. Some of those finished in 2018.
6) The investigations could have stopped with the JASON report, which wasn't released for a reason: It didn't support the CIA fairy tales about its agents being attacked.
7) This irrational thinking was what made the State Department, the CIA and the Pentagon warn its millions of employees about being attacked and encouraging them to come forward with their symptoms, which made hundreds of them believe that they themselves were attack victims. No wonder that they now feel let down by their employers, who exposed them to MPI on a gigantic scale.
8) In other words, nothing but "spinning, irrational thinking, or indulging in pseudoscience." And it hasn't even stopped with the interim CIA report. The idea that some of those cases may have been attacked, in particular the ones in Havana that started the whole spectacle, is being kept alive ... for ... reasons ...

 

[dann]

Mark Zaid, the lawyer of many of the 'syndrome' sufferers, on Twitter, Jan 20, 2022:

This interim report is largely bc CIA is having revolt within its workforce as officers don't want to go overseas.

CIA interim report is disinformation. Other agencies furious no coordination occurred & they disagree. This still shows how individual agencies disregarding uniform approach & not including proper experts. Why?
We already filed lawful whistleblower complaint challenging CIA.
https://twitter.com/NBCNews/status/1484017864030011395

He is probably not even entirely wrong about the reason why the CIA doesn't want the farce to continue: Keeping the lie alive has repercussions for people employed by the State Department and the CIA.

 

[dann]

While many pundits have argued that Havana syndrome is psychosomatic, the Biden Administration and Congress have taken the reports very seriously — so much so that President Joe Biden signed a bill compensating Havana syndrome victims last fall.
But the findings from the CIA’s interim study into Havana syndrome have now cast significant doubt on the government’s prior stance on the strange disorder — and raises many more questions than answers.
Fortunately, it also led to some excellent memes for us to enjoy.
Here’s the crème de la crème.
Twitter Roasts FEDs After CIA Admits Havana Syndrome Is Fake After Al (Futurism, Jan 20, 2022)

I like this one!

What if the real Havana syndrome was the warmongering mass delusion we suffered along the way
@TheDCSentinel on Twitter (Jan 20, 2022)

 

[dann]

A short, almost laconic, article in Granma about the CIA 'revelations':

La verdad no merece oídos sordos (Granma.cu, Jan 23, 2022)
The truth does not deserve to fall on deaf ears

I guess the title is a pun on the damaged hearing mentioned in some of the first cases. The illustration also makes it seem so.

 

[llwyd]

I like this one!

But to be fair, it's not "fake" in the sense that these people would intentionally be duplicitious - even psychosomatic symptoms are real and people have genuinely suffered, so why not give some compensation? And actually this has been a very fascinating phenomenon: a modern and well documented case of mass delusion by very intelligent and well educated people. Quite remarkable.

 

[dann]

I agree with you that MPI is real and "that these people," i.e. the MPI sufferers, "would (not) intentionally be duplicitious." But I also don't think that's the point of the tweet. I don't think that "we" in the tweet means the (relatively few) 'syndrome' sufferers. I think "we" means the millions of people who were convinced by the propaganda lie that a hostile power had used directed microwave energy weapons to harm innocent U.S. American diplomats:
"What if the real Havana syndrome was the warmongering mass delusion we suffered along the way"
The mass delusion, not the mass psychogenic illness ...

And some of the people suffering from that delusion were (and still are) eager to believe it:

Senators on both sides of the aisle are now confused by the CIA’s conclusions and have voiced concerns that the spy agency's preemptive release of its own conclusions is an attempt to offer an alternative to a separate intelligence community report expected later this month. “Everything we’ve been told up to now is different. All of a sudden we come up with a different conclusion?” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Bob Menendez, a New Jersey Democrat, told Politico this week.“ If you have an inconclusive determination, which isn’t a determination, why do you feel compelled to issue an interim report that is inconclusive?”
Sen. Susan Collins, a Republican Senator from Maine who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee member and who has personally met with individuals reporting Havana Syndrome symptoms, says she is “surprised at many of the findings, which seemed to contradict other testimony that we have had.”
CIA's Havana Syndrome Report Doesn't Sit Well With Some Lawmakers (The Drive, Jan 21, 2022)

It would be very nice to hear more about the "other testimony that we have had" and about “everything we’ve been told up to now," wouldn't it?
Who exactly presented the Senate committees with testimony leading to different conclusions? What exactly were those senators told?


ETA: And I disagree with you about this: "a modern and well documented case of mass delusion by very intelligent and well educated people."
They may be educated, but not well educated. And many of them may be intelligence operatives, but the ones we've seen on TV playing recordings of crickets don't seem intelligent at all.

 

[dann]

Short interview with Natalie Shure, The New Republic:

MARTIN: You know, it was interesting to me that you said at one point in your reporting on this that - you said that those in the national security space, you know, a lot of reporters - some reporters, certainly officials who are - have people who work in foreign policy and national security as their constituents, for example, embraced the Havana syndrome theory but that a lot of health and science reporters and analysts and researchers really did not. And I was just wondering about that. Could you talk a little bit about why you think that might be?

SHURE: Yeah. I think it is a red flag and something that stood out to me that this story was being almost exclusively pushed by national security reporters and not by people who report on health topics. And, you know, speaking to people who do health reporting or, you know, what little titters you saw online, I think that there was a lot more skepticism. There were some questions of, hey, wait a minute; why would you think that migraines point to a microwave attack? It just doesn't add up. And I think that there are a few reasons for that. I think that some people really got swept away in the excitement of the story and that it led them to, you know, drop skepticism that they really should have had about this.
The danger of pushing the foreign attack theory for 'Havana Syndrome' (NPR, Jan 23, 2022)

 

[dann]

An example of people who "really got swept away in the excitement of the story" would be the editorial board of Washington Post. In fact, they have dropped the "skepticism that they really should have had about this" to the extent where they just can't let go of their fantasy of weapons and perpetrators.

This is so incredibly dumb that it's almost unbelievable:

The perpetrator has never been identified.
(...)
Much speculation has focused in recent years on Russia, which has denied responsibility. Now a senior CIA official has announced, “We have assessed that it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism.” This statement does not exclude the possibility that lesser actors — perhaps subcontracted — are responsible for the attacks, nor does it rule out that multiple sources are to blame. That might explain the diverse locations where the victims report being hit, although if such a large group of attackers was afoot, it might also increase the chances the culprits would be caught.
(...)
The administration must show all those considering a post abroad that the United States will have their back, no matter what. At the same time, there is a smaller group of victims with injuries that may help point the way to a cause and perpetrators, and there is every reason to focus on them for forensic clues. This troubling challenge is not yet resolved.
The Post's View: The ‘Havana syndrome’ is still a mystery. It is too soon to stop investigating. (WP, Jan 23, 2022)

The story about evil adversaries responsible for the 'Havana Syndrome' is just too titilating to let it die! WP's editorial board don't seem to consider that the CIA official's announcement also does not rule out that the 'syndrome' may be caused by something other than "a weapon or mechanism." For instance by paranoid stories about U.S. diplomats and agents being attacked by sinister, elusive perpetrators with sci-fi weapons or mechanisms. These stories constitute the weapon of mass psychogenic illness.

This 'troubling challenge' has actually been resolved, WP editorial board. The perpetrator has been found! It was you the whole time!