Mark Lenzi, a member of the diplomatic security services in the State Department is suing Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the State Department for disability discrimination. Lenzi claims to be a victim of “Havana Syndrome” which he began experiencing symptoms of following a series of incidents during his work in Guangzhou, China in 2017. The lawsuit filed on December 8th, 2021, alleges that Lenzi was treated differently from others with similar symptoms, that his treatment was unfair and his condition minimalized, all while he was not offered reasonable accommodations as would befit one with a disability as required by the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). This is the first known lawsuit filed against the U.S. government relating to Havana Syndrome and its treatment of employees affected by it.
What Is Havana Syndrome?
What is now referred to as Havana Syndrome began in Havana, Cuba in 2016 when U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers began reporting the sudden onset of a host of acute but non-specific symptoms including:
- Debilitating Headaches
- Nausea
- Ringing In Ears
- Memory Loss
- Other Cognitive Difficulties
As of late 2021, as many as 200 incidents have been reported among U.S. personnel in multiple countries outside of Cuba including Russia, China, Colombia, Uzbekistan, and even the United States itself. Initially, government officials believed the syndrome was the result a sonic or acoustic weapons attack. However, a comprehensive analysis by a U.S. scientific panel theorized that exposure to a type of directed energy was the most likely culprit. The panel identified “directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy” as the most likely cause of the symptoms. An independent assessment in 2018 similarly concluded that exposure to microwaves, a type of radio frequency energy, was the most likely cause of the syndrome. An examination by the University of Pennsylvania of the brains of 40 people affected by the syndrome found some evidence of brain damage. But ultimately the true nature of the cause of the syndrome is not well-understood, nor are the full range of symptoms or the possible long-term effects of exposure.
Inside the lawsuit
In the lawsuit, Lenzi asserts that he was treated differently from others who experienced similar symptoms in Havana in 2016. Specifically, he claims that he has "received less support from the State Department in pursuing treatment, and has had to jump through needless, time-intensive, and burdensome administrative hurdles to try to receive the medical care he needs." Additionally, Lenzi claims that he was required to use sick leave to receive treatment while officers injured in Cuba were permitted to use administrative leave. Lenzi admits he has received some disability accommodations, but that he has been placed in roles below his expertise level even though applying reasonable accommodations would not have precluded him from taking positions more commensurate with his experience. The suit also alleges that "Mr. Lenzi would most likely have been promoted already if not for the agency's discrimination and retaliation against him."
Additionally, the suit alleges that the State Department made only half-hearted efforts to determine what precisely occurred in Guangzhou, China in 2017 and what subsequently had befallen the agent and his family. According to the suit, Lenzi, his wife, and their children all began experiencing "sudden and unexplained mental and physical symptoms, including headaches, lightheadedness, nausea, nosebleeds, sleeplessness, and memory loss" sometime in November of that year. And upon onset of symptoms, the agency’s investigative efforts, according to Lenzi, seemed indifferent at best and sabotaging at worst. According to Lenzi, the State Department purposely used outdated detection equipment to inspect his apartment, officials requested that official reports not be filed about the incidents within the State Department’s classified system, and officials minimalized the health risks he and his family were facing by insisting he was having an emotional overreaction, even implying that his attempt to warn other colleagues about the situation in an unclassified email was a sign of “serious mental illness.”
Despite those alleged attempts to brush the incidents under the rug, the lawsuit offers indications that the Diplomatic Security leadership at the time knew other American officials in Guangzhou were experiencing unusual symptoms like those of Lenzi and his family. Additionally, the medical complaints of Lenzi and his family were backed up later with testing; both he and his wife took the Havana Acquired Brain Injury Test (HABIT) in June 2018, and both demonstrated brain injury symptoms consistent with exposure to directed energy (the same symptoms as the injured US diplomats in Havana in 2016). Subsequently, Lenzi was officially diagnosed with an "acquired brain injury/concussion" at the University of Pennsylvania.
State Department response
For its part, the State Department has refused to comment on the suit, citing policy that prevents comment on active litigation, but the agency has otherwise pledged to solve the mystery of Havana syndrome and claims that the safety of its officers is a top priority. As Blinken himself stated recently in a November news conference addressing the issue, "All of us in the US government, and especially we at the State Department, are intently focused on getting to the bottom of what and who is causing these incidents.” In that same news conference, Blinken announced that he had appointed two new officials to spearhead investigations into Havana Syndrome, which the government is calling simply a string of "anomalous health incidents."
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