Exclusive: In his first meeting with the cohort of State Department staffers affected in Cuba and China, the secretary of state spent more than an hour offering reassurances and fielding questions.

Sept. 21, 2021

By Josh Lederman and Brenda Breslauer

WASHINGTON – U.S. diplomats suffering from the unexplained “Havana Syndrome” used a tense meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken this month to voice growing dismay over continuing stigma and disbelief within the U.S. government about their injuries, more than four years after the incidents began.

In his first meeting with the cohort of State Department staffers affected in Cuba and China, Blinken spent more than an hour offering reassurances and fielding questions, with most affected staffers joining remotely by phone. His message: Those suffering must be believed, and that the administration is doing all it can to investigate and provide care.

Yet, the assurance from America’s top diplomat stood in stark contrast to the profound challenges that affected diplomats say they’re still facing in getting proper medical care, evaluation and benefits — and the skepticism about their injuries they say is pervasive even among some high-level government officials.

Read more and watch the video at https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/tense-blinken-meeting-havana-syndrome-diplomats-complain-skepticism-n1279769

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