Review Finds No Answers to Mystery of Havana Syndrome

Karl gmkarl at gmail.com
Sun Dec 5 08:20:01 PST 2021


I websearched around a bit and this article from a couple months ago
has more poignant information regarding Mark Lenzi, a security
engineer who was targeted and pursued action:
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/10/25/state-department-2018-directed-energy-exposure-517055

That older article also has links to scans of primary documents.

>From the field, examination disclosure forms:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-b7d3-d8e1-a57c-ffff023f0000
and test results:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-b7cd-d8e1-a57c-fffd2c6d0000
Memo indicating obstruction of investigation:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-b7d3-dddc-a77e-b7d3defa0000
Enrollment form for study:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-b7d4-d3c9-a77c-bfde830b0000
Diagnosis with brain injury:
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=0000017c-b7d2-dddc-a77e-b7d38ac60000

Additionally, it says the "crickets" theory was disproven and links to
this article: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/seized-some-invisible-hand-what-it-feels-have-havana-syndrome-n1281326

There are further links to documents and other articles in the
article.  The plaintext is pasted below.

State Department tested diplomats for 'directed energy exposure' years
before telling Congress
A whistleblower victim provided new documents to POLITICO and is
alleging retaliation for speaking out.

Mark Lenzi, a U.S. State Department security engineer.
Mark Lenzi is a U.S. State Department security engineer who was among
several diplomats evacuated in 2018 from the U.S. Consulate in
Guangzhou, China. | Rodrique Ngowi/AP Photo

By ANDREW DESIDERIO and LARA SELIGMAN

10/25/2021 11:56 AM EDT

Updated: 10/25/2021 03:07 PM EDT

The State Department was zeroing in on directed-energy weapons as a
possible source of U.S. diplomats’ mysterious brain injuries more than
two years before detailing those suspicions to members of Congress,
according to documents obtained by POLITICO.

As early as mid-2018, the State Department was administering its own
internal medical tests specifically designed to evaluate patients who
experienced “directed energy exposure” on foreign soil, according to
two victims’ disclosure forms for the examinations. Both of their test
results led to their immediate return to the U.S.

One of those victims, current State Department official Mark Lenzi,
sustained traumatic brain injuries while on assignment in Guangzhou,
China, in late 2017, when he was working as a security engineering
officer in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. It wasn’t until June
2018 that Lenzi was evaluated for directed-energy exposure, more than
six months after first informing his superiors about his symptoms.
Days after failing the medical test, he and his family were medically
evacuated from Guangzhou.

Lenzi has accused the State Department of covering up the source of
his and other diplomats’ ailments and withholding information from
Congress. Lawmakers were not briefed on the department’s medical tests
for directed-energy exposure until early 2021, POLITICO previously
reported, even though State was administering those exams to diplomats
as early as 2018.

Lenzi provided documents to POLITICO that detail his claims that
State’s leadership has retaliated against him for speaking out
publicly and for working with the members of Congress who have been
investigating the matter.

The federal agency that handles whistleblower claims previously found
“a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing” in the case of Lenzi and his
claims of retaliation, according to an April 2020 Office of Special
Counsel memo. That retaliation probe is ongoing. A separate document
shows that just last month, Lenzi’s administrative leave — which he
relies on to attend therapy sessions and participate in medical
studies — was revoked without explanation.

The documents, which have not been previously reported, shed new light
on the government’s handling of the unexplained health incidents that
have afflicted more than 200 American personnel — diplomats and
intelligence officers alike — in foreign countries and on U.S. soil
since 2016.

It comes as victims such as Lenzi have grown frustrated with what they
say is the department’s slow and inconsistent response to the
incidents over the years, spanning three presidential administrations.

The State Department has been accused of downplaying both the symptoms
and the cause — sentiments that were expressed directly to Secretary
of State Antony Blinken during a tense September phone call with
affected diplomats.

Members of Congress have urged the Biden administration to do more to
help victims such as Lenzi, and some fault the State Department for
its handling of the matter.

“The State Department has not treated this syndrome as seriously as it
should. And that is very disturbing to me,” Sen. Susan Collins
(R-Maine), who has spoken with Lenzi and sits on the Senate
Intelligence Committee, said in an interview.

A State Department spokesperson declined to discuss the details of
Lenzi’s specific case, citing privacy concerns.

“The safety of our personnel is our highest priority,” the
spokesperson added. “We take every report we receive extremely
seriously, and we are doing everything we can to ensure affected
individuals get the best care and treatment.”

In a statement to POLITICO, Lenzi said the State Department’s handling
of the issue has deteriorated under Blinken.

"On his first day as secretary of State, Secretary Blinken — who I
know and have the utmost respect for — told the Department of State
workforce that he ‘would not tolerate retaliation against
whistleblowers,’” Lenzi said. “However, under his tenure, retaliation
against me by the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Bureau for my
whistleblowing activities with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel and
with Congress has actually increased.”

2018 test indicated directed energy suspicions
Victims of so-called Havana Syndrome have reported an array of
debilitating symptoms in what the Biden administration officially
refers to as “anomalous health incidents.” The cases were first
reported in Havana, Cuba, in 2016.

While the U.S. has yet to publicly assign a cause or culprit for the
symptoms, top officials and scientists are increasingly confident that
they are the result of directed-energy attacks by a foreign government
— likely Russia, according to intelligence officials — and the Biden
administration has been providing weekly updates to the congressional
intelligence committees.

Sen. Marco Rubio listens.
FOREIGN POLICY

U.S. investigators increasingly confident directed-energy attacks
behind Havana Syndrome
BY ANDREW DESIDERIO AND LARA SELIGMAN

The State Department’s apparent understanding in 2018 that Lenzi’s
symptoms could have been caused by directed energy came two years
before a National Academy of Sciences report declassified and
published in 2020 concluded that “directed, pulsed radio frequency
energy” was the likely source of the ailments. The number of suspected
attacks on diplomats and CIA officers has risen substantially in the
past year and have been reported on every continent except Antarctica.

The new documents do not detail the scientific analysis underpinning
the medical examinations. But lawmakers from both parties have accused
various executive branch agencies of holding back critical information
about the government’s investigation into Havana Syndrome, especially
during the Trump administration. In the meantime, some skeptics have
asserted that the symptoms are the result of a psychogenic illness,
exposure to chemicals or a specific species of crickets — though the
latter has since been discounted.

Medical experts and intelligence officials have said publicly and told
Congress in the past year that the symptoms likely stem from a
directed-energy attack on the individual or an effort by a hostile
foreign government seeking to steal data from the target’s devices.

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President Joe Biden’s national security team has placed a renewed
focus on the mysterious incidents, with CIA Director William Burns
taking the lead in a governmentwide effort that was largely
nonexistent during the previous administration. And Biden recently
signed bipartisan legislation, the HAVANA Act, to expand victims’
access to medical treatment for their symptoms, which include piercing
headaches, memory loss, dizziness, intense ringing and pressure in the
ears, and even permanent brain damage.

A senior administration official reiterated the White House’s position
on the source of Havana Syndrome — that the intelligence community is
“actively examining a range of hypotheses, but has made no
determination about the cause of these incidents or who is
responsible.”

‘The department’s current medical assessment has evolved’
After Lenzi began experiencing symptoms of the mysterious ailment in
China, he and 40 other diplomats in China and Cuba were given a series
of tests called the Havana Acquired Brain Injury Tool, or HABIT, which
were developed and administered by State Department medical personnel.

The State Department describes the HABIT tests as “a clinical
assessment tool designed with clinical researchers to evaluate medical
findings associated with directed energy exposure in certain foreign
environments,” according to copies of two HABIT disclosure forms dated
June 1, 2018. The series of exams, administered by State Department
doctors, test the patients’ brain function and eye movements in order
to determine whether a brain injury has occurred.

The 41 diplomats who failed the HABIT tests — 26 from Cuba and 15 from
China, including Lenzi — were medically evacuated and sent for
additional testing at the Penn Center for Brain Injury and Repair at
the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

When asked about the HABIT test, the State Department spokesperson
said the department “for the last several years has utilized a tool
that comprehensively evaluates reported anomalous health incidents in
neurological, cognitive, vestibular, auditory, and visual domains.”

The spokesperson said the 2018 test and its mention of directed-energy
“do not align with the department’s current medical evaluation
procedures.”

“The department’s current medical assessment has evolved since 2018
with expert guidance from medical providers who have cared for
patients since 2018,” the spokesperson added.

Lenzi enrolled in a University of Pennsylvania research study titled
“Investigational Link Between Uncharacterized Environmental Exposure
and Acquired Brain Injury,” on June 20, 2018. The study was led by
Douglas Smith, a neurologist at the school’s Perelman School of
Medicine, and at the time was sponsored by the U.S. government,
according to Lenzi’s enrollment forms. It was to stretch for five
years and include a number of blood draws and MRI scans.

But just two months later, the U.S. government was no longer listed as
a sponsor. A consent form dated Aug. 24, 2018, stated that the study
was sponsored by Penn’s Department of Neurosurgery.

The State Department spokesperson declined to address the change
directly, saying only that “we never pulled funding from a Penn study”
and “the department continues to engage interagency partners,
academics, and scientific experts on mitigation efforts.”

Lenzi was diagnosed with a brain injury on June 22, 2018, by Teena
Shetty, a neurologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York,
according to the documents he provided. Shetty recommended additional
treatment, as well as physical restrictions such as refraining from
sports and exercises and avoiding reading and screen time.

Since then, Lenzi says, the State Department has retaliated against
him in a number of ways. Documents viewed by POLITICO show that the
department most recently yanked his administrative leave last month —
forcing him to use sick leave or leave-without-pay to participate in
medical studies and attend therapy sessions — and has denied him
access to his classified computer system, even though he retains his
top-secret security clearance.

Lenzi said he has accrued 1,248 hours of administrative leave over a
two-and-a-half-year timeframe — about 156 working days.

He expects the OSC investigation to be completed before the end of the
year. At that point, by law, the results would be shared with the
White House and Congress. If Lenzi’s allegations are substantiated, he
would be considered a whistleblower under the statutory definition,
and he would be entitled to protections under the law.

In the meantime, the State Department is warning victims that it could
be months before they see the benefits of the HAVANA Act. In an email
obtained by POLITICO, the department’s Bureau of Global Talent
Management wrote that the new law “will have to go through the federal
rules-making process, which is lengthy, and requires consultations and
clearances with multiple other federal agencies.” The email also
states that the funding for the HAVANA Act must come from a
congressional appropriation, which has yet to reach Biden’s desk.

State Department lagging the CIA in response, critics say
Members of Congress have taken an interest in the mystery surrounding
the illness since 2016, when it was first detected among U.S.
diplomats serving in Havana. But congressional oversight activities
skyrocketed this year after officials from across the government began
warning lawmakers that diplomats, intelligence officers and other
American personnel are being targeted with increasing frequency both
on foreign soil and the U.S. mainland.

As a result, individual lawmakers have engaged directly with the
victims, including Lenzi, as part of their oversight of the
government’s handling of the matter. One of those lawmakers, Collins,
has talked extensively with Lenzi and called his retribution claims
“truly horrific.”

“His story is very compelling and sadly far too typical of those
individuals who have suffered through and are enduring the
consequences of the pulsed energy attacks that lead to Havana
Syndrome,” Collins, a senior member of the Intelligence Committee,
said in an interview.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during a Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken testifies during a Senate
Foreign Relations Committee hearing. | Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Many victims are hesitant to go public or even speak privately with
congressional committees that are investigating the government’s
response. Lawmakers attribute their reluctance in part to the State
Department’s slow response to the increase in suspected attacks. The
CIA, meanwhile, has begun to treat the subject more seriously,
especially during Burns’ tenure.

“The State Department still has lagged the CIA in providing the health
care and compensation that these individuals need and deserve,”
Collins added.

Burns has taken action to remove individuals from the CIA’s medical
office who aren’t treating the issue seriously, according to two
people familiar with the moves. A CIA spokesperson said Burns “has
made changes in our Office of Medical Services from his first day on
the job, elevating a doctor focused on patient care to lead our
efforts caring for affected individuals, and also tripled the number
of medical staff focused on” the matter.

By contrast, the State Department’s task force on Havana Syndrome was,
until recently, led by Pamela Spratlen, who had lost the confidence of
many of the victims. In a recent phone call with victims, for example,
Blinken and Spratlen were grilled about several topics, including the
department’s reluctance to publicly refer to the incidents as attacks,
as well as its tiptoeing around the “mass hysteria” theory that the
victims and intelligence officials roundly reject.

During a visit to Colombia last week, Blinken met with American
diplomats at the U.S. embassy in Bogota who have been impacted by
Havana Syndrome. The State Department under Blinken has sought to
highlight the secretary’s interactions with the victims, as the Biden
administration seeks to revamp its public-facing response to the
incidents.

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misstated the date for
which Mark Lenzi was diagnosed with a brain injury by Teena Shetty. It
was June 22, 2018.

FILED UNDER: NATIONAL SECURITY


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