The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has begun making compensation payments to serving officers and veterans who suffered brain injuries from a series of mysterious health incidentsthey told the New York Times officials and informed persons. It is about what has been called the “victims of the sonic attacks” or “the Havana Syndrome”, supposedly originated in 2016 in the Cuban capital.
About a dozen people suffering from those symptoms have received payments or have been approved to receive them, the people familiar with the program said.
Several of those affected are former CIA agents stationed in Havana between 2016 and 2017. However, payments to others affected elsewhere are also being processed.
Diplomats and CIA officials began reporting ailments stemming from strange incidents beginning in 2016 in Havana. Since then, government employees and their family members in China, Austria, Germany, Serbia, Switzerland, Colombia and other places around the world have also reported symptoms. There have been some reports of alleged sonic attacks in Washington DC. However, those cases are not included in the payment package for now.
The State Department has not yet made any payments. But a spokesman said officials were carefully considering the parameters of the program and would begin processing compensation soon.
Officials briefed on the payout program said the CIA was trying to be compassionate, not greedy, in making its decisions, something the lawmakers who devised the program said they want.
The Law of Havana, which Congress approved last year, awards up to $187,300 in compensation to each victim. Tammy Kupperman Thorp, a CIA spokeswoman, told the newspaper that the law gave the agency authority to pay employees, family members and others affiliated with the agency who have “a diagnosed qualifying brain injury.”
“The guidelines put in place were developed in partnership with various government agencies and permit payments, regardless of where the incident occurred,” Thorp said. “As we’ve said before, these authorities are an important part of the agency’s commitment to support its workforce.”
Under rules established by the State Department and the CIA, victims must prove they sustained a brain injury related to “war, insurgency, hostile act, terrorist activity, or other incidents” designated by the Secretary of State or the CIA director. . Victims must also have received medical treatment for their injuries for at least twelve months.
Mark S. Zaid, a national security attorney who represents nearly two dozen people who suffered abnormal health incidents, said it had been difficult for some victims to apply for compensation. Others have had trouble getting a formal diagnosis by government doctors as a requirement for approval of benefits or medical treatment.
