Lawyer insists foreign adversary is behind Canadian diplomats' Havana Syndrome

National Post

a day ago

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The Global Affairs report traces the various steps federal agencies have taken over the years in response to the illness complaints, including security, medical and environmental assessments.
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A multi-agency Integrated National Security Enforcement Team, led by the RCMP, opened an investigation in June 2017.
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Global Affairs and RCMP officials began travelling regularly to Cuba as part of the investigation to look at the possibility of malicious attacks, the report says. Canadian officials also shared information with foreign partners, including the United States.
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In 2019, instruments designed to detect and capture evidence of acoustic and radiation surges, and to measure environmental effects — such as temperature, humidity, barometric pressure and ozone levels — were installed in the living quarters of Canadian staff in Havana.
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'The data collected from the instruments did not provide relevant and probative information to identify a cause for the symptoms,' the Global Affairs report says. 'As such, in 2022, the instruments were removed.'
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The integrated national security team concluded 'there was no criminality and no evidence attributing these health symptoms to a foreign actor,' the report adds.
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'In their conclusions, the RCMP and other domestic partner agencies assess that there is no known criminality, no known attribution for (unexplained health incidents) and no patterns related to symptoms, age, gender, location, or other variable.'
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The U.S. intelligence community looked at possible evidence of a foreign adversary's involvement, the feasibility of tools that could cause the reported symptoms and whether medical analysis could help find answers.
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A March 1, 2023, report from the U.S. National Intelligence Council said these lines of inquiry led most intelligence community agencies to conclude — with varying levels of confidence — that it was 'very unlikely' a foreign adversary was responsible for the health issues reported by American personnel.
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Global Affairs, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMP subsequently met to discuss the U.S. council's findings.
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The RCMP indicated that 'since no criminality was uncovered, its criminal investigation would be concluded,' and CSIS advised it also would be wrapping up its investigations for similar reasons, the Global Affairs report says.
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Overall, the Canadian efforts 'have not uncovered a clear common cause of the symptoms experienced by government of Canada employees,' the report adds. 'Canada's findings are aligned with the conclusions of the United States on their various health studies and the security report published by the National Intelligence Council.'
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Miller points to other research and testimony that challenge those findings.
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Lawyer Mark Zaid, representing several U.S. personnel with symptoms, told a congressional hearing in May 2024 that there was intelligence, scientific and medical evidence substantiating the reports of anomalous health incidents, and that some were caused by a foreign adversary.
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Zaid, who had authorized access to secret details, said he was convinced that 'the evidence that exists in the classified arena directly contradicts the public conclusions' provided by U.S. federal agencies about the cause of the health symptoms.