U.S. intelligence, military and law enforcement officials unanimously agreed Thursday that an intelligence community assessment doubting a foreign role in so-called “Havana syndrome” illnesses should be withdrawn, after a U.S. lawmaker claimed a “cover-up.”
That view aligns with those of a lawyer representing Canadian diplomats who have long said they were stricken with debilitating symptoms while serving in Cuba — hence the syndrome’s name — and who are pursuing legal action against the Canadian government.
U.S. House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Rick Crawford said the 2025 assessment, which echoed previous reports, was based on “flawed” intelligence and manufactured “unethical” health studies that sought a desired outcome, and needs to be recalled.
“Put simply, it’s my clear opinion that individuals in the intelligence community were involved in a cover-up,” he said at the opening of Thursday’s hearing, which was focused on the U.S. intelligence community’s annual threat assessment.
Asked by Crawford if the assessment should be retracted, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard — whose office is conducting a review of the investigation — said “yes.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe deferred to Gabbard, noting his agency was supporting the review. FBI Director Kash Patel, acting National Security Agency director Lt.-Gen. William Hartman, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt.-Gen. James Adams all said “yes.”
American foreign service officials and their dependents in Havana began reporting symptoms including headaches, memory loss, mood changes, vision problems, nausea and nosebleeds in 2016.
By early 2017, Canadian diplomats and their families were reporting similar symptoms, which were later claimed by American military, intelligence and diplomatic officials in multiple other countries.
The similarity of the symptoms, along with the titles the victims held, led to claims that a hostile enemy state was involved.
“I have always believed that it was a foreign adversary,” said lawyer Paul Miller, who is representing 17 plaintiffs accusing Ottawa of downplaying “Havana Syndrome” and dismissing their claims, in a recent interview with Global News.
That case, first filed in 2019, has still not been resolved.
A March 1, 2023, report from the U.S. National Intelligence Council concluded that it was “very unlikely” a foreign adversary was responsible for the health issues reported by American personnel.
That conclusion was cited in a 2024 Global Affairs Canada report that said the unexplained health incidents “were not the result of a malicious act of a foreign actor.”
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The report, drawing on the work of an interdepartmental task force and external experts, says pre-existing medical conditions, environmental factors and conventional illnesses “were likely to have been important factors in many of the symptoms experienced.”
The report adds that the findings “do not cast doubt on the authenticity of the symptoms reported by staff members and their dependents.”
“I have never believed one thing Global Affairs has told us,” Miller said.
“I have talked with people who are Americans who were in Havana, who were next-door neighbours of clients of mine, who were impacted by Havana syndrome. So I’ve heard it right from the horse’s mouth of people that have been impacted.”
He continued: “We have always thought from our perspective, from council’s perspective, that Canada could not come out and do anything or say anything without the U.S. first. … Because if it was a foreign actor that did this, it is an act of war.”
Symptoms associated with Havana syndrome, which has afflicted Americans serving at diplomatic posts in several countries. (AP Graphic).
In a new assessment released by U.S. intelligence last year, five of seven agencies that reviewed the case reaffirmed that it is very unlikely that a foreign adversary was behind the injuries.
Two of the agencies, however, reached a different conclusion, determining that there is a possibility that a foreign power may have developed or even used a weapon capable of causing the reported injuries. Such a device would presumably rely on acoustic energy, microwaves or another kind of directed energy.
A “60 Minutes” investigation released earlier this month reported that such a device exists and was developed by Russia.
Sources told “60 Minutes” that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretly acquired a device from a Russian black market seller and tested it on animals in the U.S. — concluding the microwaves it emitted produced the same symptoms reported by American and Canadian personnel.
The report quoted a former CIA official involved in the investigation who said his supervisors didn’t want to publicly accuse a foreign actor of attacking Americans overseas over fears it would dissuade people from intelligence or diplomatic service.
Global News has not independently verified the reporting by “60 Minutes.”
Previous media investigations, including by “60 Minutes,” have also alleged a Russian link to Havana syndrome, which Moscow has denied.
Miller said he was not surprised by the report’s findings, alleging that the Canadian government has also interfered in the investigation.
The statement of claim filed in the Federal Court of Canada alleges Ottawa used U.S. diplomatic channels to tell brain researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, who were treating U.S. victims, to “stop the testing of Canadians” who were sent there for study in 2017.
“The Canadian government ordered our clients back to Canada, citing national security reasons,” Miller said.
“If this is pesticides, or psychosomatic, or anything else like that, how is there national security implications?”
A spokesperson for the Professional Association of Foreign Service Officers said the union was “following the latest developments closely.”
“The employer (Global Affairs Canada) must determine the cause of the injuries in question and prevent them from happening again,” Daniel Pollak said in an emailed statement.
Crawford’s committee released a report in December 2024 that concluded it is “increasingly likely” a foreign adversary is responsible for “some portion” of the incidents.
He said Thursday that the U.S. intelligence assessments, as well as the 2024 U.S. National Institutes of Health studies that found no evidence of brain injury among those affected by Havana syndrome, had created distrust among Americans in the intelligence community and “caused real, serious harm to some of our nation’s bravest.”
Global News has previously reported Canadian diplomatic staff bound for Cuba were told to stay silent about Havana syndrome, and that Global Affairs Canada staff at one point discussed the possibility that the reported symptoms were imagined.
The government has disputed allegations of wrongdoing in court, calling those claims “exaggerated.”
Questions sent to Global Affairs Canada about Thursday’s testimony in Washington, including whether the department would consider a new investigation or withdrawing its 2024 report, were not immediately returned.
The department has declined to confirm whether Canadian diplomats in Cuba are still being advised to serve without being accompanied by their families, a decision made in the wake of the Havana syndrome reports.
“We do not comment publicly on specific security measures at our missions abroad,” a spokesperson said.
Miller said he was unable to discuss the current status of the court case. The most recent court filings, including an amended statement of claim, is marked classified and could not be provided.
“The behaviour of the government (in this case) has done more damage to cause people not to want to join foreign service than anything else,” he said.
“If you’re going to put someone in harm’s way, protect them. Treat them with respect.”
—with files from the Canadian Press and the Associated Press
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