When in Doubt use AI/ML

Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI), also known as Havana Syndrome.

The US Intel Community has been baffled by the source of AHIs and a leaked report of the reported source of these ‘attacks’ has not happened. I.e., there is still conflicting evidence on what is causing this and if a human entity is responsible.

One interesting theory is crickets causing the issue. Buzzfeed received a declassified State Department Report by the JASON board of scientists in November 2018. The report has conveniently redacted its conclusions though and is now 3 years out of date.

I’ve occasionally looked at this issue but the dubious profiteering by Dr. Michael E. Hoffer from working on this issue has never made the news. He’s worked on TBI for soldier’s in Iraq and was recommending an unapproved drug where he had a financial stake. Looks like he’s been promoting his own I-Portal® VNG made by Neuro Kinetics, Inc to diagnose AHIs.

The other is a much more sinister idea of a directional microwave device targeting US embassies worldwide. This has been the leading theory in the news since December 2020 after this report by the National Academies on the issue.

Interesting Tidbit

US Select Intelligence Committee has introduced within its Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2022 a measure to throw AI and ML models at the issue because why not?

Utilizing AI/ML in Joint Task Force investigation into anomalous health 
        incidents

    The Committee is committed to protecting and supporting 
Intelligence Community and other federal government personnel 
who have experienced debilitating, unexplained attacks, or 
anomalous health incidents, while serving their country. The 
Committee is also focused on identifying and holding 
accountable those responsible for inflicting these injuries on 
U.S. personnel, and recognizes that artificial intelligence and 
machine learning tools can play an important role in 
identifying the actors, weapons, and patterns of these attacks.
    Therefore, the Committee encourages the Joint Task Force 
required by Section 404 to investigate anomalous health 
incidents. In carrying out its investigation, the Committee 
urges the Joint Task Force to utilize commercially available 
technological tools, including but not limited to off-the-shelf 
automated machine learning tools, to gain insights from open 
source and commercially available data.

Just thought it was funny because these buzzwords are quite common and having these advanced analytical tools won’t solve this puzzle any faster than before.

Regardless on what’s causing it there are still recent reports of Havana Syndrome occurring so I don’t expect this to be solved anytime soon.