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2024-12-29 Government Corruption
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Senate report faults CIA response to ‘Havana Syndrome'
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[WAPO] A bipartisan Senate report released Friday faulted the CIA’s response to the mysterious ailment known as "Havana syndrome," saying many employees "faced obstacles to timely and sufficient care" after experiencing symptoms.
Determined by many here, to be self-inflicted years ago.
The report from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence did not shed new light on what may be behind the mysterious ailment — formally known as Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) — which was first reported by CIA employees in late 2016. But it did say the lack of a clear definition of this affliction, its cause and the "CIA’s evolving organizational position have greatly complicated CIA’s ability to consistently and transparently facilitate medical care, provide compensation and other benefits" to those affected.
The committee staff reviewed the CIA’s response to employees, contractors and dependents who reported symptoms. The panel said it will issue a classified report in early 2025. The 18-page report released Friday was an unclassified summary of the findings.
Health-care providers may be able to treat patients experiencing dizziness, nausea, headaches, balance issues and cognitive challenges without fully knowing its true cause or origin, but for the CIA, "the question is weightier," the report said. The federal government is mandated to treat people who are "injured in the line of duty rather than by naturally occurring medical conditions that should be addressed through private health care channels."
In response to the Senate report, the CIA said in a statement that "during the critical periods covered by this report, CIA had to design a response to a vexing problem as both our understanding of the problem and the problem itself evolved — including in the midst of the unprecedented global health pandemic that profoundly disrupted individuals’ access to standard health care, medical evaluations, and treatment."
The agency added: "Whether, in hindsight, we could have done better is for others to evaluate, but our commitment to ensuring that our officers and their families had access to the care they needed has never wavered."
Havana syndrome has been a global medical mystery since U.S. officials in Havana reported symptoms in 2016. It has triggered several inconclusive investigations and increased tensions between the United States and Cuba.
In March, the National Institutes of Health said its ongoing investigation found no significant evidence of brain injury after repeated scans of patients suffering from the mysterious ailment.
And in March 2023, the intelligence community concluded that a foreign adversary was not responsible for the ailments associated with Havana syndrome after many of the personnel had said they were victims of a deliberate attack. The intelligence community also said AHIs were not caused by an energy weapon or as the by-product of some other activity, including electronic surveillance that could have made people sick unintentionally.
The Senate report said some "AHI reporters experienced delayed, denied, or preconditioned care." Some experienced "long wait times" to access treatment, were denied treatment altogether or "felt that CIA tried to discourage them from seeking facilitated care, particularly as CIA’s organizational position on AHIs evolved."
The report also noted the CIA has stopped collecting clinical data about AHIs, and access to benefits for some "has been inconsistent."
"Distrust of CIA has been a common theme among AHI reporters the Committee interviewed," the report said. Some of them "perceived that their career was negatively impacted for reporting an AHI or seeking support related to their AHI."
The report went on to say the CIA "could benefit from an examination of how its response to AHIs has impacted its workforce, to include issues of morale and trust."
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