United States: A senior Department of Defense official who attended last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, had symptoms like those experienced by US officials who suffered “Havana syndrome”, the Pentagon reconfirmed on Monday.
Havana Syndrome is still under investigation
However, the syndrome of Havana is still under investigation, but there is a series of health problems that have been traced back to as early as 2016, when officials serving in the American embassy in Havana described as sudden head strange feeling, ear pain, or dizziness.
The injuries to United States government officials or their families were part of a “60 Minutes” report played on Sunday that may have been related to Russia, as one American was injured during the NATO summit, which was held this year in Vilnius.
Sabrina Singh, the deputy press secretary, stated, “I can confirm that a senior DOD official experienced symptoms similar to those reported in anomalous health incidents,” on Monday, while referring to Russian role the intelligence community, still under investigation.
An unidentified official, who was not part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s official traveling delegation to Vilnius, Singh stated, but was there “separately, attending meetings that were part of the NATO summit,” as US News reported.
In February the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, positioning it as unlikely that a foreign adversary had anything to do with the strange illnesses, was made by information in its 2024 threat assessment but noted that, in fact, the United States intelligence agencies had varying levels of confidence in this assessment.
The State Department spokesman, Matthew Miller told press on Monday that they are totally confident with that assessment.
Miller said, “It has been the broad conclusion of the intelligence community since March 2023 that is unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for these anomalous health incidents.”
And “It’s something that the intelligence community has investigated extensively and continues to look at. We will look at new information as it comes in and make assessments inside the State Department and with our intelligence community.”
Mr. Mitchell Valdes-Sosa, a known foremost Cuba-based Havana Syndrome researcher, speaking The Associated Press told that the “60 Minutes” report had no scientific basis to prove the existence of the Havana syndrome and claims it makes.
Valdes-Sosa who is the director of Cuba’s Center for Neuroscience, is the de facto spokesperson on the issue for the Cuban health ministry.
He added, “I think that this journalistic investigation does not provide serious elements, especially that there is a new illness caused by a mysterious energy,” and, “The symptoms are very varied: balance problems, sleep problems, dizziness, difficulties concentrating, and many diseases can cause them.”
In the past Valdés-Sosa hadn’t come out and said that diplomats got sick but agreed to the possibility of the diplomats getting ordinary diseases as usual and that the aggravated condition was a result of public attention rate, as US News reported.
The Pentagon’s health care system has created a registry where employees or their dependents can report such symptoms. In March, however, the National Institutes of Health researchers published a five-year study, and they did not find brain injuries, or degeneration among US diplomats and other government employees who had Havana syndrome symptoms.