US to continue paying benefits to Havana Syndrome sufferers

In the report released Wednesday, US intelligence agencies also found “no credible evidence" that any foreign adversary possessed a weapon or intelligence collection device that caused the injuries, which first emerged among U.S. diplomats in Havana, Cuba, in late 2016.

A State Department spokesman said the department would continue processing requests for benefits “consistent with congressional requirements and intent." In late 2021, President Biden signed a law enabling the heads of the CIA, the State Department and other agencies to provide financial support to the afflicted employees.

“Affected personnel who meet the necessary criteria are eligible for Havana Act payments, the monthly monetary benefit, medical cost reimbursement, and workers’ compensation," the spokesman said.

The State Department declined to specify how much it had paid out under the program. The CIA program won’t change as a result of the new intelligence findings, an intelligence official familiar with the report said. The CIA hasn’t disclosed how much has been paid out, nor to how many individuals.

Havana Syndrome, known in the U.S. government as Anomalous Health Incidents, is a set of unexplained medical symptoms. Those affected reported 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 left active service due to complications from the condition.

While most people reporting symptoms were CIA and State Department officers serving overseas, personnel from a handful of other agencies, including the Defense and Commerce departments, also have been affected.

The intelligence report, the main findings of which were released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, didn’t pinpoint a cause for the wide range of symptoms. It found they were probably caused by a combination of factors, including pre-existing medical conditions, conventional illnesses and environmental factors.

In total, officials said they have received roughly 1,500 reports of Anomalous Health Incidents in 96 countries. New reports have dropped significantly more recently, with a few in 2023, according to an intelligence official.

“There was a decline between 2021 and 2022, and so far this year there has been a decline between those cases that were reported as of this date last year and as of this date this year," State Department spokesman Ned Price said.

The new intelligence assessment appeared unlikely to satisfy victims of the syndrome, who say the federal government ignored or played down their health complaints for years and was slow to offer treatment.

“Until the shrouds of secrecy are lifted and the analysis that led to today’s assertions are available and subject to proper challenge, the alleged conclusions are substantively worthless," said Mark Zaid, a lawyer whose firm represents more than two dozen victims, in a statement. “The damage it has caused to the morale of the victims, particularly by deflecting from the government’s failure to evaluate all the evidence, is real and must be condemned."

Mr. Zaid credited U.S. agencies for continuing “solid support for the victims, and especially their care."

In the absence of publicly known evidence, theories proliferated that the symptoms were caused by an adversary such as Russia using a hitherto unknown device that employed some sort of pulsed energy or acoustic device. Moscow has denied any involvement.

Havana syndrome has complicated the Biden administration’s efforts to work with Cuba in certain areas, including migration.

Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío said this week that Cuba is the victim of U.S. sanctions “based on unfounded allegations, like ‘sonic attacks.’"

Write to Warren P. Strobel at Warren.Strobel@wsj.com