CIA officer suffers from Havana syndrome symptoms on India trip with US spy chief
- The officer was travelling with CIA chief William Burns when he developed symptoms consistent with exposure to a directed energy attack
- US defence and intelligence agencies have ramped up investigations amid a rising number of such incidents
A US intelligence officer suffered symptoms linked to a series of suspected directed-energy attacks known as “Havana syndrome” while travelling with CIA Director William Burns in India this month.
Experts are in the process of verifying the officer’s symptoms, which are consistent with the scores of other cases in recent years linked to Havana syndrome, according to James Giordano, a scientist briefed on the case and others. CNN first reported the incident.
Defence and intelligence agencies have ramped up investigations of what appears to be a rising number of incidents in which personnel have suffered symptoms consistent with being exposed to directed energy.
The symptoms are often referred to as Havana syndrome because of a well-known series of cases affecting personnel at the US embassy in Cuba beginning in 2016. The US has not publicly linked the incidents to an adversary.
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There are at least 200 cases under investigation, half of them involving intelligence personnel.