MYSTERY GOES ON

Diplomat Leading Havana Syndrome Response Out After Angering Sufferers With ‘Mass Hysteria’ Comments

Ambassador Pamela Spratlen refused to rule out that the syndrome could be a psychogenic illness.

The diplomat picked by the Biden administration to oversee the State Department’s response to “Havana syndrome” is leaving days after sufferers were left upset by her not ruling out that their symptoms could be explained by mass psychogenic illness. Ambassador Pamela Spratlen was tapped in March to lead the agency’s response to hundreds of unexplained health incidents suffered by U.S. government workers and their families around the world. But, earlier this week, NBC News reported on a tense-sounding call with Havana sufferers who said Spratlen refused to say whether she believed an FBI report on the syndrome that determined that staffers were most likely suffering from a kind of mass hysteria. One unnamed diplomat said that Spratlen was “very clearly saying that she has not ruled out that we’re crazy.” The State Department confirmed Spratlen’s exit on Wednesday, saying in statement that she had “reached the threshold of hours of labor” allowed under her retiree status.