A senior Defense Department official who attended last year’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, exhibited symptoms similar to those associated with “Havana syndrome,” as confirmed by the Pentagon on Monday.
Havana syndrome, which dates back to 2016 and includes various health issues such as head pressure, head or ear pain, and dizziness, remains under investigation. The injuries to U.S. government personnel or their families were highlighted in a “60 Minutes” report on Sunday, which implied Russian involvement, including an incident during the 2023 NATO summit in Vilnius.
The unidentified official that experienced the symptoms was not part of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s official traveling delegation to Vilnius, but rather attended meetings independently as part of the NATO summit.
In February, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in its 2024 threat assessment, deemed it “unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for the mysterious ailments. However, it acknowledged varying levels of confidence among U.S. intelligence agencies regarding this assessment.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller reiterated on Monday that the department has confidence in this assessment.
