CIA Officer Who Hunted For Bin Laden To Lead ‘Havana Syndrome’ Task Force
The officer, whose identity is secret, was handpicked by CIA Director William Burns to help investigate suspected "directed energy attacks" that have sickened scores of U.S. officials in Cuba, Austria, the United States and elsewhere.
The Wall Street Journal:
Havana Syndrome Task Force To Be Led By Veteran Of Hunt For Bin Laden
CIA Director William Burns has tapped a veteran of the agency’s hunt for Osama bin Laden to head a task force aimed at finding the cause of unexplained health incidents suffered by U.S. spies and diplomats around the world, current and former officials familiar with the matter said. The choice of the Central Intelligence Agency officer—whose identity remains undercover—is part of what the officials described as a quickening effort to determine the source of the apparent attacks, which has proven elusive. They have affected scores of U.S. officials posted overseas over the last five years, and are sometimes known as “Havana Syndrome” because the symptoms were first reported in 2016 by diplomats at the U.S. Embassy in Havana. (Strobel, 7/21)
The Washington Post:
Havana Syndrome: CIA Officer Who Hunted Bin Laden Will Look For Cause Of Mysterious Illnesses
CIA Director William J. Burns handpicked the officer, who is undercover and a veteran of counterterrorism and counternarcotics operations, these people said, speaking like others on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive assignment. They added that the officer’s work on the operation to find and kill bin Laden, which the CIA counts among its historic successes, underscored the emphasis and urgency Burns placed on attributing the cause of the illnesses, which have caused headaches, hearing loss and brain injuries and led to early retirements in some instances. (Harris, 7/21)
The Wall Street Journal:
What Is Havana Syndrome? What We Know
Havana Syndrome is a series of unexplained medical symptoms first experienced by U.S. State Department personnel stationed in Cuba beginning in late 2016. At the time, those diplomats had been dispatched to Cuba as part of the rapprochement between the two countries begun under President Barack Obama, after decades of severed diplomatic relations between the two countries. The emergence of the ailments on Cuban soil strained those developing ties. Since the initial cases, diplomats and intelligence officers stationed around the world have experienced similar symptoms. Those affected report a range of conditions including dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive difficulties and memory loss of varying severity. In some cases, diplomats and intelligence officers have left active service due to complications from the condition. (Tau, 7/21)
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The New York Times:
Spy Agencies Turn To Scientists As They Wrestle With Mysteries
The nation’s intelligence agencies are looking for ways to increase their expertise in a range of scientific disciplines as they struggle to answer unexplained questions — about the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, unidentified phenomenon observed by Navy pilots and mysterious health ailments affecting spies and diplomats around the world. Traditional spycraft has failed to make significant progress on those high-profile inquiries, and many officials have grown convinced that they require a better marriage of intelligence gathering and scientific examination. (Barnes, 7/8)
BuzzFeed News:
US Intelligence Agencies Are Trying To Solve Scientific Mysteries And Failing Badly
In the absence of any real evidence, US intelligence reports — typically shrouded in secrecy — are fueling a flurry of speculation over today’s biggest scientific mysteries. Yet history has shown that intelligence agencies are not equipped to quickly solve scientific problems, and their findings look more likely to spark fear and confusion rather than crack any cases. Although they all boast technical expertise, intelligence agencies, at their heart, are not really focused on solving scientific mysteries, said Loch Johnson, a political scientist at the University of Georgia and senior editor of the academic journal Intelligence and National Security. They are good at analyzing political situations and spying, he said, “but when it comes to scientific matters, we really fall off.” (Vergano, 6/26)
