On January 10, 2025, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released an updated assessment of the anomalous health incidents known as Havana Syndrome: headaches, dizziness and cognitive problems reported by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers since 2016.

Five of the seven agencies involved held their view that a foreign weapon was very unlikely to be the cause. But two agencies, not named, changed their judgment, citing new reporting that foreign directed-energy research programs were making progress. One put the odds at a roughly even chance that a foreign government had used a weapon or prototype device in a small number of cases.

The report still left room for a 2022 expert panel’s finding that pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radio-frequency range, plausibly explains the core symptoms in some cases. Mark Zaid, a lawyer for several victims, said classified information contradicts the assessment and accused the CIA of covering up what it knows. A December 2024 House Intelligence subcommittee report had already accused the agencies of sloppy work. Investigative reporting has tied some cases to Russia’s GRU Unit 29155, which U.S. officials disputed.

The official position has kept shifting since. In June 2026, outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard revoked two of the skeptical assessments, citing evidence that the 2023 analysis was corrupted, and ordered a new review.