A Pentagon spokesperson confirmed Monday that a U.S. official had symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome during a 2023 NATO conference, confirming one part of an extensive 60 Minutes investigation into the illness that aired that night before.
“I can confirm that a senior DoD official experienced symptoms similar to those reported in anomalous health incidents,” deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters when asked about the possible Havana syndrome attack in Vilnius, Lithuania. She said the unnamed official was at the NATO conference attending meetings, but was not part of Secretary Lloyd Austin’s delegation.
Singh did not confirm any details on a number of other suspected attacks mentioned in the 60 Minutes special.
“All I can share is that when it came to that particular 60 Minutes piece, just the DoD official that was impacted in Vilnius, but that’s it,” she said.
The 60 Minutes special drew links between the mysterious incidents and Russia, and included an interview with Greg Edgreen, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who formerly ran the Pentagon’s investigation into Havana syndrome.
Edgreen told the program that the attacks, which include sudden headaches and ear pain, seemed to be targeting officials whose work related to Russia.
That claim is at odds with the general consensus of the intelligence community, which has deemed it “unlikely” that the illnesses are the work of a foreign government.
A pair of National Institute of Health studies released last month determined that the dozens of U.S. government employees experiencing symptoms presented no clear evidence of brain injury.
Instead, they attributed the incidents to “preexisting conditions, conventional illnesses, and environmental factors,” among other things.
