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Many of them suffered debilitating symptoms, from headaches and vertigo to vision problems. Some of the patients described feeling as though they were standing in an invisible beam of energy. Some of the patients said the sensations seemed to follow them around their homes, apartments, and hotel rooms in the Cuban capital. officers and State Department employees first reported experiencing strange sensations of sound and pressure in their heads in 20. The Havana Syndrome derives its name from the Cuban capital, where C.I.A. government, we are vigorously investigating reports of possible unexplained health incidents among the U.S. A State Department spokesman said, “In coordination with our partners across the U.S. spokesperson said that the agency’s director, William Burns, was “personally engaged with personnel affected by anomalous health incidents and is highly committed to their care and to determining the cause of these incidents.” Privately, Burns has called the maladies “attacks” rather than incidents. government agencies formally refer to as “anomalous health incidents” or “unexplained health incidents,” remains unknown, but in response to the surge the C.I.A., the State Department, and other agencies are redoubling their efforts to determine the cause, and to identify the culprit or culprits. The exact cause of the ailments in Vienna, which U.S. and Russian espionage-is now greater than the number reported by officials in any city except for Havana itself, where the first cases were reported. officials say the number of possible new cases in the Austrian capital-long a nexus of U.S. intelligence officers, diplomats, and other government officials in Vienna have reported experiencing mysterious afflictions similar to the Havana Syndrome. Since Joe Biden took office, about two dozen U.S.
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Photograph by Ronald Zak / AP / Shutterstock Vienna is home to many officials from around the world who have access to information of interest to intelligence services.
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