By Ken Dilanian and Josh Lederman
In a new intelligence assessment, (click here) the CIA has ruled out that the mysterious symptoms known as Havana Syndrome are the result of a sustained global campaign by a hostile power aimed at hundreds of U.S. diplomats and spies, six people briefed on the matter told NBC News.
In about two dozen cases, the agency cannot rule out foreign involvement, including many of the cases that originated at the U.S. Embassy in Havana beginning in 2016. Another group of cases is considered unresolved. But in hundreds of other cases of possible symptoms, the agency has found plausible alternative explanations, the sources said.
The CIA declined to comment.
The CIA declined to comment.
This finding reopens the relationship with Cuba. There has to be a solution to the danger no matter where diplomats live, work and meet. Every country in the world, which brings the United Nations into focus, should be interested in this finding and move to find the source of this hostility.
I am concerned there is greater and greater insult not only to sovereign countries and their ability to carry out diplomatic relations moving toward peace, but, also I am convinced the invasion of fraudulent storylines leading to the taking of money into the population of the USA is organized crime.
I think it would be foolish not to see this as a danger of the two which leads to the funding for terrorists. When I first heard about the epidemic of money gathering in the USA I never labeled it as weak American senior citizens with missing pieces in their love relationship. I saw it as a weakness in our national security. Those monies are going to unknown ventures in the millions of dollars. I am more than convinced this is organized crime. I remind Hezbollah has a foothold in Venezuela.
So, I hope the Biden administration will look at the relationshiop with Cuba once again and the State Department return to dialogues that can lead to more peace with our near shore neighbors.
This finding by the CIA is not a minor issue. This is enormous. Over the decdes since September 11, 2001, the banking industry has diligently carried out tighter and tighter regulations to end the flow of money to terrorists and their networks. They aren't going away. Those terrorists and their networks are mired in religious fervor, so it is only reasonable to expect them to come up with methods of funding. I think the gutting of retirements, savings and loans are a source of terrorist income. I also believe those practicing these dynamics are freelancers, which makes sense for individual violence such as suicide bombers. When the freelancers need advise and/or false checks to pass through electronic means a wider network requires payment for their services.
This finding by the CIA opens up an entirely new front that threatens sovereign powers and their efforts to end terrorist threats and networks. I might add when democratic principles are applied to this dynamic, it is far more safe for any country regardless of governance type to allow demonstrations and protests to mitigate complaints rather than oppress them.
If I could offer advice, I would suggest peace should take a very high priority to eliminate the directives of terrorists and their very invasive ability. The money taking is a lesson in the invasiveness of such dynamics. If an entire section of a society's financial stability can be destroyed, that is a substantial gain for terrorist networks.
