Defense secretary urges Pentagon employees to report any cases of "Havana Syndrome"
CBSN
A new memo issued Wednesday by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin urges all Pentagon employees and contractors to report suspected cases of "Havana Syndrome," the mysterious neurological illness that emerged years ago among U.S. personnel in Cuba.
The memo, which refers to the cases as "Anomalous Health Incidents," said that over the past several years, numerous department of defense employees had reported "a series of sudden and troubling sensory events" whose symptoms include headaches, nausea and loss of equilibrium.
The cases occurred "predominantly overseas," according to the memo, which urges those experiencing symptoms to "immediately" leave the area.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.