The term Havana Syndrome was coined after people working at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba’s capital city in 2016 reported a sudden onset of symptoms that had no obvious cause, including vertigo, imbalance, blurry vision, tinnitus, headache, hearing loss, nausea and cognitive dysfunction.

“Although there are reports that predate these incidents, the media originally called these phenomena Havana Syndrome, as they were the first to garner public attention. Such events have affected U.S. government employees, military servicemembers, and their families in countries around the world, and are now referred to as anomalous health incidents (AHI) by the U.S. government,” the Government Accountability Office explained in a July 2024 report, which also highlighted challenges that sufferers faced in accessing the Military Health System.

Congress several years ago passed legislation that authorized federal agencies to compensate affected employees, former employees and dependents for qualifying brain injuries.

“The Department of Defense has begun reviewing applications by DoD personnel for payments pursuant to the Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act of 2021 (HAVANA Act),” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement Friday.

“Under the HAVANA Act, DoD employees and their covered dependents who suffered qualifying brain injuries on or after January 1, 2016, in connection with certain Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), are eligible for a one-time payment. The Department is committed to helping DoD personnel affected by AHIs,” he added.

A House Intelligence subcommittee report issued last December noted that Havana Syndrome incidents have also been reported in Austria, China, Colombia, Georgia, Germany, India, Poland, Russia and Vietnam, as well as the United States.

Estimates vary as to the number of individuals affected by the problem, GAO noted in last year’s report. As of January 2024, 334 people had qualified for care in the Military Health System, according to the government watchdog.

Some observers believe that incidents of Havana Syndrome may have been intentionally caused by adversaries using pulsed radio-frequency energy or focused ultrasound devices, but others are skeptical.

“Various government agencies and medical researchers have conducted studies on aspects of AHIs, but none have isolated a cause,” the GAO report stated.

A study by a panel of U.S. intelligence community experts — whose findings were declassified in 2022 — found that “known medical and environmental conditions, including psychosocial factors, could not explain some AHI cases with abrupt-onset, location dependent, audio-vestibular phenomena. It concluded that various forms of pulsed radiofrequency energy, as well as focused ultrasound in close access scenarios, were plausible explanations for these cases, though information gaps existed,” according to the GAO report, which noted that the experts “did not address the question of attribution to an actor, including the question of whether a foreign actor may be involved.”

Another IC assessment, released in March 2023, concluded it was “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for the reported incidents, and that deliberate causal mechanisms were “very unlikely” to have produced the sensory phenomena and symptoms associated with them — although confidence levels in those conclusions varied among the IC agencies, per the GAO report.

Leadership of a GOP-led House Intelligence subcommittee criticized the 2023 IC assessment, saying it “lacked analytic integrity.”

“It appears increasingly likely and the Chairman is convinced that a foreign adversary is behind some AHIs,” officials wrote in a subcommittee report released in December 2024.

A former U.S. Army officer who led an official investigation told journalists from the show 60 Minutes that he believed Russia was behind attacks that caused Havana Syndrome symptoms, according to CBS News.

The Defense Civilian Personnel Advisory Service (DCPAS) is responsible for administering the HAVANA Act-related payment program for the Pentagon.

“DCPAS will collect and review applications that have been submitted, using the DD Form 3220, ‘Eligibility Questionnaire for HAVANA Act Payments,’ claim form, to the HAVANA Act email address (dodhra.mc-alex.dcpas.mbx.dod-havana-act@mail.mil). Individuals applying on behalf of a covered employee or covered dependent must provide documentation demonstrating the individual is authorized to act on behalf of the applicant,” Jules Hurst III, acting undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, wrote in a June 20 memo, which provides details about the adjudication, payment and appeals processes.

“DCPAS may consult with offices within the Office of the Secretary of Defense to determine whether the incident causing the injury was in connection with war, insurgency, hostile act, or terrorist activity. For applications involving incidents that have been designated by DoD as ‘other incidents’ … DCPAS will request that the applicant or Director, Defense Health Agency, provide a designation letter … to validate that an incident at a particular location has been reported and the covered employee or covered dependent is authorized to receive medical care from DoD in relation to the incident,” Hurst wrote in the memo.

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Senior defense officials provided new information about those plans and the overarching vision behind that new strategy during a media roundtable with a small group of reporters at the annual AUSA conference on Tuesday.

“One of the things that we’re paying close attention to is this changing character of warfare and how we as a force need to be prepared,” Col. Matthew Scherer, director of Medical Research Development Command, told DefenseScoop during the briefing. 

This new strategy is being produced as part of the Defense Department’s broader Warfighter Brain Health Initiative, which leadership originally launched in 2022 to pave the way for a more unified approach to help military personnel better optimize their health and counter traumatic brain injuries. 

Army officials involved in the making of this new guidance anticipate that it will be ready for release in spring 2025, according to Col. Jama VanHorne-Sealy, who leads the Occupational Health Directorate.

“We’re looking at every aspect of brain health — all the way from, are you eating all the necessary fruits and vegetables; are you getting your exercise; are you getting enough sleep, so we prepare the brain to optimize — to, is your job tempo requiring you to work at a deficit; are you working 12 hours a day and six days a week, and that’s causing a cognitive change in order to identify that? [We’re looking] into protective measures that we can integrate and identify within the service to be able to mitigate risks and hazards and potential exposures — to looking to monitoring those individuals and documenting in their medical records,” VanHorne-Sealy explained.

“And then also, as you heard on the other end of the spectrum, we’re optimizing treatment, determining what research gaps are still under-addressed. So, as we look to the warfighters’ brain health, we’re looking at it from a total perspective,” she said.

At the roundtable, DefenseScoop asked whether any Army personnel have reported anomalous health incidents associated with Havana Syndrome. 

First reported by government officials based in Cuba and elsewhere abroad in 2016, Havana Syndrome refers to a yet-to-be explained medical condition that causes symptoms including dizziness, headaches, nausea, vertigo, memory and hearing loss, vision problems, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, and fatigue — painfully impacting their capacities to serve.

In response to the question, VanHorne-Sealy said she could not provide the number of Army officials that “have and have not” been affected by Havana Syndrome to date, but she confirmed the service is “exploring” the topic. 

“[Anomalous health incidents or AHI] is certainly one of the things that we’re calling out in” the in-the-works strategy, she said.

“It’s distinctly possible that there isn’t a lot of underlying science that we’re going to identify quickly. But we want to capture it now. We want it to be part of our comprehensive brain health strategy,” VanHorne-Sealy explained.

Scherer added that the Army is “certainly open to collaborating with academia and other partners” to better understand Havana Syndrome exposure and impacts.

“This is a good example of how things don’t just happen in a vacuum,” he said. 

Officials also reflected on how the “changing character of warfare” they’re observing amid the Russia-Ukraine War and other emerging conflicts is informing their prioritization of brain health-supporting pursuits.

“I read a statistic that said that neurosurgical services in Ukraine are doing like 3.2 craniotomies per day — and we just do not have sufficient numbers of providers in the force structure to actually do that work. So, it’s critical for us to make sure we’re leaning forward and preparing the broadest number of our providers to be prepared to take care of those types of threats,” Scherer said. 

Sgt. Maj. Chris McNamara, a human weapon system expert with Army Special Operations Command, also noted that Army leaders are now placing “a heavy emphasis” on deploying drones and other advanced weapon technologies to reduce troops’ potential exposure to TBI.

“Things that used to be engineer tasks, things that used to be [explosive ordnance disposal] tasks — no longer have to be a soldier doing that. So it’s actually helping us on the other end of the spectrum. We’re using technology and robotics to achieve things that most people only think of in terms of kinetic effects. Right now, we are doing things with them that are everyday soldier tasks that used to put soldiers in harm’s way,” McNamara told DefenseScoop.

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In 2016, State Department officials in Havana, Cuba, started reporting experiences with mysterious, unexplainable medical symptoms impacting their capacities to serve. Intelligence and military staff operating in the U.S., Russia, Serbia, Vietnam, India, Colombia, France, Taiwan and other nations have since recorded similar complications associated with such anomalous health incidents (AHI), or what is now also referred to as “Havana syndrome.”

Often, those suffering from AHI report severe dizziness, headaches, nausea, vertigo, hearing loss, vision problems, anxiety, cognitive difficulties, fatigue and memory loss. 

The precise cause of Havana syndrome still remains unclear, but experts have suggested that a microwave weapon or directed-energy device could be a possible source. Five U.S. intelligence agencies previously concluded in their own federal assessment that the primary cause was likely not a U.S. adversary. However, the New York Times reported on Monday that the House Intelligence Committee has moved to look into the handling of that investigation and possibly challenge those conclusions.

The members of Congress behind this new bill noted in their announcement that the National Defense Authorization Acts for fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2023 included provisions mandating interagency coordination on AHI, and explicit reporting requirements for the State Department — but not the Pentagon.

“I’ve spoken directly with public servants, including from Virginia, impacted by anomalous health incidents. These Americans include U.S. diplomats, servicemembers, intelligence officers, and civilian personnel. As a former CIA case officer and member of the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I believe that lawmakers and the Pentagon must better understand the extent of these incidents and develop a strategy to address the issue,” Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., said in a statement.

Spanberger introduced the new bill last week alongside Reps. Brad Wenstrup, R-Ohio, Rick Crawford, R-Ark., Don Bacon, R-Neb., and Trent Kelly, R-Miss., and it was subsequently referred to the House Armed Services Committee.

Text of the Initiating Imperative Reporting on Anomalous Health Incidents Act (or IIR on AHI Act) was shared with DefenseScoop.

Specifically, the legislation would direct Pentagon officials to supply lawmakers in both chambers of Congress with new information regarding all the confirmed or suspected cases of AHI affecting DOD employees and military service members. Details such as the total number of officials that have been impacted to date (broken down by military occupational specialty), the location of the incidents, and the time frame when they occurred, would need to be incorporated. 

Defense officials would be required to participate in that briefing by March 1, 2025. 

Further, the bill also would direct the DOD to supply an updated strategy to guide how it can protect and treat personnel for AHI effects moving forward.

“Usually where there is smoke, there is a fire and since 2016 we’ve seen too many documented cases of unexplained medical symptoms affecting our diplomats and intelligence officers stationed around the world. We need to hear from the Department of Defense about how many this has affected and what they are doing to treat and better protect our people stationed overseas,” Bacon said. 

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