New Report Criticizes Previous Findings On Havana Syndrome, Says Intelligence Community Impeded Its Investigation
Democrats involved claimed that the investigation was sloppy and, “uncovered no new evidence to support the conclusion of adversary involvement or evidence of improper analytic process”.
WASHINGTON - The House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence has released a new report on the Committee’s investigation into Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs), also commonly known as “Havana Syndrome,” and the increasing likelihood a foreign adversary is responsible for some of the reported AHI cases.
The new report criticizes the previous Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) that foreign adversaries aren't likely responsible for targeting U.S. personnel and called the findings "dubious at best".
The Democrats involved in the investigation, but not in drafting the 10-page document claimed that the investigation was sloppy and that it “uncovered no new evidence to support the conclusion of adversary involvement or evidence of improper analytic process”.
Democrat Representative Jim Himes said that the search for what causes the syndrome has been “frustratingly inconclusive” but that he has never seen the intelligence community impede the Republican investigation.
“However, the Majority CIA Subcommittee’s Interim Report has uncovered no new evidence to support the conclusion of adversary involvement or evidence of improper analytic process,” he stated.
“What’s more, I have served on the House Intelligence Committee throughout this period and across three Administrations, and I have seen no evidence that the U.S. government was not determined to find the root cause of these incidents and to protect the men and women who go to work around the world every day to safeguard our nation.”
New GOP Report: Conclusions By International Community Dubious At Best, and Misleading At Worst
"The IC’s conclusions that foreign adversaries aren’t responsible for targeting U.S. personnel are dubious at best and misleading at worst. Additionally, this interim report encourages the U.S. government to codify and establish clear, effective medical care for AHI-affected personnel," the report states.
It also said that it has found, “evidence that the ICA lacked analytic integrity and was highly irregular in its formulation.”
“The Subcommittee’s investigation has uncovered information illustrative of problems with the ICA’s creation, review, and release. Some of these problems may include a rush to convey a consensus amongst elements of the IC [intelligence community] in an effort to control the narrative," the report said.
Subcommittee Chairman Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said, “Sadly, the IC has actively attempted to impede our investigation, but we have nonetheless been able to gather significant evidence, and I have reason to believe that its claims of environmental or social factors explaining AHIs are false".
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-Ohio) also said, “I would like to thank Chairman Crawford for his tireless efforts investigating AHIs. I agree with his interim report indicating that foreign adversaries are likely responsible for some AHIs".
The previous report on Havana Syndrome was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and six other intelligence agencies and said that no evidence was found to conclude that the symptoms experienced by the U.S. intelligence personnel and other government employees were due to an intentional weaponized attack.
“We cannot tie a foreign adversary to any incident,” a U.S. intelligence official said last year after investigators studied over 1,500 reports detailing the symptoms which ranged from unexplained headaches to dizziness.
Another intelligence official said at the time, “There is no one explanation for any of this".
Most of the agencies involved in the previous assessment concluded that it was "very unlikely" that a foreign adversary was involved, adding that no foreign adversary had a weapon or collection device that is causing the symptoms.
CIA Director Bill Burns said in a statement last year, "The intelligence community assessment released today by ODNI reflects more than two years of rigorous, painstaking collection, investigative work, and analysis by IC agencies including CIA".
“We applied the agency’s very best operational, analytic, and technical tradecraft to what is one of the largest and most intensive investigations in the agency’s history.”
He also said, “I want to be absolutely clear: These findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that U.S. government personnel and their family members — including CIA’s own officers — have reported while serving our country".
New Interim Report on Havana Syndrome Versus Previous Findings:
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