U.S. diplomats, spies and service members who complained of “Havana syndrome” symptoms can expect a payment in compensation. The Biden administration announced on Friday that the State Department is going to start writing checks. Cases severe enough to require “at least a year of medical assistance” can expect “payments of about $140,000 or $187,000.”
Havana Syndrome compensation
According to the State Department, in a statement issued Friday, June 24, those with severe Havana syndrome will “be paid in a one-time, lump-sum tax-free amount.” They tied the compensation figures to the State Department pay-scale so the amount changes year-by-year.
The first complaints started popping up around 2016. By now, officials across government agencies stationed around the globe “have been struck with a mysterious set of symptoms.”
The complaints first surfaced in Havana, Cuba where state department workers were used to being spy-rayed and microwaved on a regular basis.
These symptoms were different from anything they had ever noticed before and quickly put workers out of commission. Nobody inside or outside the intelligence community has any idea what or who “is causing the spate of injuries.”
They may not know what caused the symptoms but many of the affected workers are disabled. Everyone has been pressuring Biden for Havana Syndrome victim support.
Many “are struggling with steep medical costs and loss of employment due to their injuries.” They got it at work so expect some basic workers compensation. Not everyone with the syndrome will get paid.
Injury to the brain
The qualification hoop that must be jumped through before you can get a Havana Syndrome check is proof of an “injury to the brain.” They will take a doctor’s certification of acute brain injury or traumatic brain injury.
They also note patients with “persistent and disabling neurological symptoms” may qualify after they are “assessed and diagnosed in person by a neurologist who is certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology.”
Another little asterisk notes that “payments are also only for diplomats and their family members who were impacted from January 2016 onward.” Last year, His Wisdom signed the Havana Act, which “authorized the department to provide payments to personnel suffering from brain injuries.”
The measure also “required the CIA to decide if US intelligence officers who were victims of the mysterious Havana syndrome qualify for payments.”
The CIA will also offer “two compensation tiers: $187,300 – the equivalent of a year’s ‘Level 3’ government salary – for very severe brain injuries and $140,475 – the equivalent of 75% of a year’s Level 3 salary – for all others who are deemed eligible.”
Havana syndrome victims “will be eligible no matter where in the world they were when their symptoms began occurring.“
