Havana syndrome compensation is best understood through the lens of social contagion and the nocebo effect.

There is a long history of governments paying compensation to the victims of psychogenic outbreaks.

Havana syndrome symptoms are so vague that most people would experience one or more in any given week.

The headlines are dramatic: The U.S. government is paying compensation to its employees and their dependents who were believed to have been the victims of a mysterious directed-energy weapon. The alleged attacks began in Cuba in 2016, hence the term "Havana syndrome."

The payments are happening because Congress passed the Havana Act of 2021 to compensate government employees and their dependents who were believed to have experienced health problems from a covert weapon wielded by a foreign power. Health problems attributed to these anomalous health incidents later spread to more than 1,500 employees. However, in 2023, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which oversees America’s spy agencies, concluded that foreign adversary attacks were “highly unlikely” and that the symptoms were almost certainly the result of pre-existing conditions and anxiety disorders that were erroneously lumped under a single label. Psychologists have also pointed to another primary mechanism: the nocebo effect, the opposite of the more well-known placebo effect. Put simply, if people believe something can make them sick, they can actually exhibit symptoms.

Despite this conclusion, the Havana Syndrome Act was never rescinded.

More recently, in June 2026, the ODNI changed its assessment stance. This shift was not driven by some new scientific........

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