'Havana syndrome' not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds

[underpants]

Source: The Washington Post

After a years-long assessment, five U.S. intelligence agencies conclude it is ‘very unlikely’ an enemy wielding a secret weapon was behind the mysterious ailment

The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.

The new intelligence assessment caps a years-long effort by the CIA and several other U.S. intelligence agencies to explain why career diplomats, intelligence officers and others serving in U.S. missions around the world experienced what they described as strange and painful acoustic sensations. The effects of this mysterious trauma shortened careers, racked up large medical bills and in some cases caused severe physical and emotional suffering.

The officials said that as analysts examined clusters of reported cases, including at U.S. embassies, they found no pattern or common set of conditions that could link individual cases. They also found no evidence, including forensic information or geolocation data, that would suggest an adversary had used a form of directed energy such as radio waves or ultrasonic beams. In some cases, there was no “direct line of sight” to affected personnel working at U.S. facilities, further casting doubt on the possibility that a hypothetical energy weapon could have been the culprit, one of the officials said.

One of the officials said that even in geographic locations where U.S. intelligence effectively had total ability to monitor the environment for signs of malicious interference, analysts found no evidence of an adversary targeting personnel.

Read more: https://apple.news/AoLTKaEMpTXeDqG9t2oF8jA

[Wild blueberry]

1. Then what is it?

Too many diplomats have been harmed to be "coincidence."

[2naSalit]

5. +1

[mitch96]

33. "Not to go all "conspiracy theory" Hey, conspiracy theory's take a lot of planning...nt😉

[Ray Bruns]

9. It was aliens.

https://www.google.com/search?q=history+channel+aliens+meme&tbm=isch&ved=2ahUKEwjBmJOwpbv9AhV3H2IAHXk_Dx4Q2-cCegQIABAC&oq=hist&gs_lcp=ChJtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1pbWcQARgAMgQIIxAnMgQIABBDMgQIABBDMgQIABBDMggIABCABBCxAzoFCAAQgAQ6BQghEKsCOgcIABCABBAYOgcIIxDqAhAnOgQIABADUOQIWMcxYO07aAFwAHgBgAGUAYgBghaSAQQ5LjE3mAEAoAEBsAEFwAEB&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-img&ei=MpD_Y8G3F_e-iLMP-f688AE&bih=669&biw=390&rlz=1CDGOYI_enUS1010US1010&hl=en-US#imgrc=yqzJIDiUrOCW-M

[womanofthehills]

17. Probably pesticide spraying in hotel rooms -

Using outdoor only pesticides indoors. There have been reports of tourists dying from wrong pesticides used.

[Bev54]

19. Yes and it is not only US diplomats, many other countries have had their diplomats experience

the same thing, including Canada. Why is it that other citizens were not affected, including US and Canadian ex-pats or tourists were not affected. Whatever and whoever this was it is targeting diplomats and intelligence services.

[flying_wahini]

2. Well I am throwing down the Bullshit flag on this one. I am NOT convinced.

When 1000 people have somewhat similar and sudden neurological symptoms and you can’t prove it was caused by an outside source it is not a proven fact that it didn’t happen.

[sybylla]

4. +1

[2naSalit]

6. +1

It's something, they just can't figure out what. To come out and say there's nothing is irresponsible as claiming it's something that doesn't exist.

[womanofthehills]

24. Symptoms of pesticide poisoning are neurological

In the late 90’s my whole dead end block got sick from mosquitoes spraying from trucks going down streets. My Dr knew right away it was pesticide poisoning because my mouth was foaming.

Some city worker took it upon himself, to use some outdated super toxic Malathion sitting in a hot shed to spray when he ran out of his usual spray. All the kids got asthma and I got MCS & environmental illness.

I’m 90 % better after moving to the country. I really feel for the East Palestine people because many will have neurological and allergy problems probably for the rest of their lives.

[Tetrachloride]

30. +1. several times

in addition to such chemicals, artificial sweeteners have be definitely in my doghouse for 13 years.

[PatSeg]

27. Agreed, well said

That was a piss poor explanation for why it was not a foreign adversary. Better to have said nothing at all.

[twodogsbarking]

36. What you said.

[Oneironaut]

3. This is actually kind of scary.

If it was Russia or China, we would at least know the source, and, be able to fight it.

We know the following: These are targeted attacks, and, they are through some kind of sonic weapon

If it is not a targeted attack by a state, that opens up a whole new range of terrifying possibilities.

[2naSalit]

7. Has it ever happened to...

Diplomats from other countries?

[Bev54]

23. Yes, Canadian diplomats have experienced it and if I remember correctly there was

at least another country as well.

[2naSalit]

25. Thanks...

I don't recall hearing that any other country's people had been affected.

[TeamProg]

8. That's good news! Super scary thinking a ray-weapon was being used.

(wiping sweat off brow emoji)

[SouthernDem4ever]

10. They just don't know what caused it

If it was used as a weapon, the perps wouldn't leave it running while it's being investigated.

[sanatanadharma]

11. Because, of course, rays or waves can't reach receivers round the corner

Yah! My wireless, bluetooth, tv, radio, etc. all require line of sight otherwise the waves won't bend, bounce, spread-out and reach around the corner.

[Mosby]

39. Different frequencies do different things.

Are you an electrical engineer?

[keopeli]

12. Not to go all "conspiracy theory" on everyone, but this response sounds like

what a government would say if it was their OWN fault and they did not want to admit it. I'm NOT saying that's what happened. But it's obvious SOMETHING happened. To eliminate possibilities without conclusive evidence (the absence of evidence does not prove anything) is irresponsible. It simply raises more questions. I'm sure these CIA and Intelligence folks know this. I have to assume they said this deliberately and for a reason.

[Kennah]

14. Or of a government that wasn't able to detect or determine what happened

[Starfury]

13. "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence"

Sometimes, "very unlikely" things actually happen. Just a thought...

[2naSalit]

26. +1

[PatSeg]

28. Yes

[TygrBright]

15. I'm rather wondering if it isn't related to electronic security systems at embassies.

Jamming signals, electronic surveillance, etc. being employed in work areas of embassies or consulates in territory where the State Dept believes it's likely they'll be spied upon.

If that's the case, they'll never admit it.

cynically,
Bright

[underpants]

16. See post 12 above. I have to say that's likely

[Wuddles440]

18. Presenting a possible 'justification'...

for avoiding any liability for service related injuries or disability?

[PurgedVoter]

20. How many making this report were hired by TFG?

If I were investigating, I would investigate exposure possibilities earlier in the day. It is possible that the symptoms showed up well after the cause.

[progressoid]

21. Mass psychogenic illness?

Mass psychogenic illness
Other names : Mass hysteria, epidemic hysteria, mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder

Mass psychogenic illness (MPI), also called mass sociogenic illness, mass psychogenic disorder, epidemic hysteria, or mass hysteria, involves the spread of illness symptoms through a population where there is no infectious agent responsible for contagion. It is the rapid spread of illness signs and symptoms affecting members of a cohesive group, originating from a nervous system disturbance involving excitation, loss, or alteration of function, whereby physical complaints that are exhibited unconsciously have no corresponding organic causes.

Causes

MPI is distinct from other types of collective delusions by involving physical symptoms. It is not well understood and its causes are uncertain. Qualities of MPI outbreaks often include:

-symptoms that have no plausible organic basis;
-symptoms that are transient and benign;
-symptoms with rapid onset and recovery;
-occurrence in a segregated group;
-the presence of extraordinary anxiety;
-symptoms that are spread via sight, sound or oral communication;
-a spread that moves down the age scale, beginning with older or higher-status people;

...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass_psychogenic_illness

[bluedigger]

22. I'll withhold judgement until the Department of Agriculture weighs in.

Seeing how we're letting everybody have an opinion and all.

[underpants]

29. 👍

[Mosby]

40. We should wait until the dept of energy weighs in. nt.

[womanofthehills]

31. US tourists mysteriously get very sick/die - outlawed pesticides used

Even 2 toddlers Died in Utah for unlawful pesticide use

CNN
—
As two Delaware teens recovering from pesticide poisoning struggle to eat, walk and sit up on their own, an investigation into what went wrong highlights failures on several levels, including lax oversight and a history of corruption at the U.S. Virgin Islands government agency in charge of exterminators.

The teens and their parents fell gravely ill and suffered seizures during a March vacation to St. John. The family was exposed to methyl bromide, a restricted-use pesticide. Recovery from their nerve damage has been slow and agonizing for the whole family, but it’s been the worst for the boys. The brothers were in medically induced comas for weeks. They are now conscious, family attorney James Maron said, but they are barely able to move.

Six months after the horrifying incident, their father, Steve Esmond, is slowly getting better as well, but suffers from severe tremors, struggles to speak and can’t turn the pages of a book, Maron said.

“Neurologically, it’s like being in a torture chamber,” Maron said. https://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/us/virgin-islands-pesticide-investigation/index.html





HOTEL HELL ‘Terrified’ couple ‘poisoned by pesticide’ at luxury Dominican Republic hotel where three US tourists mysteriously died

As authorities investigate the mysterious and sudden deaths of six American tourists at resorts in the Dominican Republic, another couple has said they also became violently ill during their stay. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9271260/tourist-couple-poisoned-pesticide-dominican-republic-hotel/



SOME FOUR YEARS ago, a family in the small city of Layton, located in northern Utah, wanted to get rid of the lawn-destroying voles living in their yard. They called a local pest control company. And the applicator -- as the resulting criminal investigation revealed -- took a total warfare approach, seeding the lawn with more than a pound of pellets containing the fumigant aluminum phosphide.

A story in Utah - kids died after toxic vole treatment!
Within a few days, their two youngest daughters -- one four years old, one just over a year in age -- were dead. The tidy little home seemed suddenly so dangerous that the National Guard was called in to do the toxicity readings. They found -- perhaps not surprisingly -- dismaying levels of phosphine gas which had been released by the pellets as they interacted with moisture in the air. https://www.wired.com/2014/03/dead-tourists-and-a-dangerous-pesticide/

[LudwigPastorius]

32. Covering up a Russian act of war?

I still think this is Putin's fuckery at work, and that the intel agencies have been told to downplay it for fear of fanning the flames for direct NATO/US involvement in the Ukraine war.

These types of weapons exist, and the National Academy of Sciences says directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases, especially in individuals with distinct early symptoms.

https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2020/12/new-report-assesses-illnesses-among-us-government-personnel-and-their-families-at-overseas-embassies


https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jun/02/microwave-weapons-havana-syndrome-experts

[womanofthehills]

34. Why go so far as to use weapons

When you can very easily use toxic chemicals and get the same result - severe neurological damage.

[Hugh_Lebowski]

38. Because they're more detectable thru various means?

[Ford_Prefect]

35. My idea, such as it may be, is that this is what they would say if there is a device or system which

caused this, possibly as an unintended side-effect, but which is too useful for them to give up. Or worse they know what it is and don't want "pedestrians" finding out until they can perfect their own version.

My suspicious mind says there is more to this than meets the eye. My too many years reading government denials about Agent Orange, The Pentagon Papers, and oh so much more, leads me to doubt this report. I suspect the truth is something which has been made invisible for reasons we are not supposed to know about.

Events may prove me wrong.

[Wonder Why]

37. The Title and the first line of the article contradict each other.

" not caused by" and "very unlikely"are NOT the same.