|
 Around 200 U.S. diplomats, officials and family members overseas are
believed to have been struck by the mysterious ailment - with
symptoms including migraines, nausea, memory lapses and dizziness.
It first came to public attention in 2016 after dozens of diplomats
at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, complained of the sickness, but
officials are yet to reach a firm conclusion of the syndrome's cause
or whether an adversary is responsible.
U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, along with other senators, including
fellow Democrat and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert
Menendez and the committee's ranking Republican, James Risch, wrote
to Secretary of State Antony Blinken about the issue on Thursday.
They urged him to announce a successor to Ambassador Pamela Spratlen,
the official who had been leading the State Department's
investigation into the incidents but is resigning.
"We ask that you take this step now to demonstrate that the State
Department does take this matter seriously, and is coordinating an
appropriate agency-level response," the senators wrote.
[to top of second column] |
 State Department spokesman Ned
Price responded to the letter during a regular
press briefing, saying Blinken "has no higher
priority than the health and the safety, and the
security of our workforce and their family
members and dependents." He added Blinken had
met with sufferers of the syndrome and had taken
steps to investigate the incidents.
For example, the State Department had sent teams
of security engineers and occupational safety
experts to inspect the locations where health
incidents were reported, Price said.
"We take every single report of an anomalous
health incident extraordinarily seriously," he
added.
Blinken is set to travel to Bogota next week,
according to the Colombian foreign ministry. At
least five families connected to the U.S.
embassy there have been affected by unexplained
health incidents, the Wall Street Journal
reported on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Simon Lewis; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content |
