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Moscow Microwaves.
Monday, September 16, 2013 (original post)
(Excerpt from Chapter 11.5 Moscow 1977-1979)
Most Recent Update: December 10, 2024
To go back to Chapter 11.5 Moscow 1977-1979, use this link. Or, go to July 1977 in the table of contents running on the right of this blog.
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| US Embassy Moscow 1953-2000 (OOB) |
Table of Contents
Moscow Microwaves
-- Moscow Signal Goes Public
-- The Purpose of Moscow Signal
-- Possible Health Effects
-- My Personal Experience
Background Materials
A select bibliography of articles and interviews in roughly chronological order. (100+ and counting)
Moscow Signal Goes Public.
In 1976, all hell broke loose at Embassy Moscow over the microwave issue. It had been a long time coming.
Unbeknownst to most Embassy staffers, the Soviets had been irradiating the upper floors of the Moscow Chancery with low-level microwaves, also called "Moscow Signal." Continuous monitoring of the signal had begun in 1963, although a State Department-sponsored study implied that the microwaving of the Chancery dated from 1953, the year we moved in. As disturbing as this situation was, the existence of Moscow Signal was kept under wraps while the US tried to work out its purpose, and whether there might be health problems associated with microwave exposure. Later, according to unconfirmed reports, the Nixon administration maintained this secrecy in an effort to avoid damaging chances for détente. The signal increased in intensity in 1975, however, and it was decided that our Ambassador in Moscow, Walter Stoessel, had to be briefed. When he learned about the problem in January 1976, Ambassador Stoessel reportedly threatened to resign unless he could also brief the Embassy community. As a result, the microwave story became public.
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| Ambassador Walter Stoessel |
In the wake of Ambassador Stoessel’s announcement, many in the Embassy community felt betrayed about being kept in the dark for so long, and still more were anxious about the health effects the microwaves might be having. Some reportedly filed lawsuits against the Department.
The Purpose of Moscow Signal.
The true purpose of Moscow Signal remains a matter of dispute. One theory was that the microwaves were being used by the Soviets to activate listening devices they had emplaced in the building prior to American occupancy. In fact, conventional wired bugs had been installed as "original equipment" before we moved into the Chancery back in 1953, and the microwaves were thought by some to be an additional espionage tool, in keeping with the "belt and suspenders" strategy often employed by the Soviets (if one way of spying is discovered, others will remain undiscovered).
The Moscow Signal bug theory was described in detail in “The Spy in Moscow Station,” by Eric Haseltine, which recounted the efforts of NSA officer Charles Gandy to get to the bottom of the microwave issue in the late 1970s. His conclusions, which, it should be noted, are still highly controversial, were based on a technical survey done at Embassy Moscow in 1978. Gandy believed that the Soviets were using microwaves (Moscow Unidentified Technical Signals, or MUTS) to activate passive bugs in the walls of the Embassy that were much more advanced than the “Thing,” or Theremin device that was found in Spaso House in 1952 (the signal was first detected in 1951).
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| Spaso Great Seal Bug |
Gandy also believed that MUTS was being used to read voices off windows by “RF imposition,” and could be used to intercept electronic signals and voices reflected off electronic devices in unprotected areas by a technique known as “RF flooding.” A few years later, Gandy also took part in efforts leading to the discovery in 1984 of bugged IBM Selectric typewriters in Moscow and Leningrad (Project GUNMAN).
There were other theories as well. Many believed that the microwaves were a jamming signal designed to foil our own electronic devices. However, as the Soviets themselves were the source of this explanation, the theory lacked a certain credibility. It could be that both theories were in fact correct, as they were not necessarily mutually exclusive, but the answer to that question is currently not available in the unclassified realm. To this day, most CIA and NSA records on Moscow Microwaves remain classified.
Possible Health Effects.
That said, many Embassy staffers were less concerned with the ostensible purpose of the microwaves than with what their health effects might be. This apprehension seemed to be borne out over the years by the finding, in the early 1970s, that an unusual number of people were departing post with elevated white cell counts. It also came out that, anecdotally at least, there seemed to be a larger number of cancer cases, and especially leukemia, among former Embassy staff than would appear to be normal.All in all, many people in Moscow
The clincher for many
To most
A 2019 re-evaluation of the Johns Hopkins study called into question its methodology and conclusions, and some of the criticisms are indeed devastating. In my view, they discredit the Johns Hopkins study and call for a complete and more comprehensive re-evaluation (see below Reference Material no. 3: The “Moscow Signal” epidemiological study, 40 years on ).
My Personal Experience.
I arrived at Embassy Moscow in the summer of 1977 to take up my new assignment as Ambassador Toon's staff aide (Ambassador Stoessel had left post in September 1976). I knew about the microwave controversy, but the issue had faded a bit into the background before I arrived, and I was much more concerned about the immediate task of learning my new responsibilities. At the time, it seemed to me that the microwave issue was taken more seriously by Embassy spouses, who were afraid for their children, than by the Embassy leadership, which, as usual, was absorbed with its daily tasks. I did notice the screens that were put up on some Chancery windows to diminish microwave penetration, but for me, it was nothing special. It was just another part of life in Moscow. Microwaves continued to be beamed at the Embassy throughout my tour.
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| Unidentified Staffer in Dushanbe -- 1978 |
Shortly after I returned to the States, I found out that my cavalier attitude toward the microwave issue was not justified. Med informed me in late 1979 that my own white cell count was much higher than normal, and advised me to continue testing. In 1985, my white cell count got high enough for Med to recommend that I see a hematologist, so I went to a local doctor in
As the reality of my illness began to set in, I started studying the issue. My research on CLL was not encouraging. Most patients progressed slowly to Stage Four and survived on average only a few years. The mortality rate 20 years out was close to 100 percent. I determined to fight the disease as best I could by leading a healthy lifestyle, although, paradoxically, I then volunteered for a high-risk assignment to
My white count stayed stable through the 1980s, although I did notice that there were periods where I would look especially pale or have slightly swollen glands. My visits to Dr. Fong convinced me, however, that I was doing much better than expected. Most other patients I saw were very sick indeed, a pitiable lot. In the 1990s for reasons no one can really explain, my white count began to normalize. By 1999, my CLL was in remission. At my last State Department physical in 2001, my “1” clearance was restored. In more recent times, my CLL has appeared again, but still at a level that does not require chemotherapy.
To this day, I don’t know exactly how I got CLL. In the back of my mind, however, I have always considered Moscow
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Background Materials.
I. Irradiating Nixon, Spaso House, July 1959.
In a 2018 biography of Ambassador Tommy Thompson, “The Kremlinologist,” daughters Jenny and Sherry Thompson wrote about microwaves beamed at the U.S. Embassy when their father was Ambassador to Moscow 1957-62. According to them, the Soviets also bombarded Spaso House, the Ambassador’s residence, with microwaves. In fact, a security team advancing Vice President Nixon's visit in 1959 noted a spike in radiation levels just before his arrival. After a protest, the radiation level dropped, but no one apparently bothered to follow up to see whether the radiation returned to its former high level after that. “No one seemed to care…if the radiation continued or not after Nixon left.” (see p. 181). The daughters also noted parenthetically that the U.S. was doing something similar to "listen to the Soviet Embassy in Washington, DC," without giving a source for their information.
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| Spaso House |
A similar story was told in "K Blows Top" (pp. 31-33, pub. 2009) by Peter Carlson, a humorous history of Khrushchev's rather strange trip to the US in 1959, and Nixon's trip to Moscow that took place a few months earlier. In fact, the story parallels very closely the account in recently declassified documents , which revealed that Spaso residents were being bombarded not by microwaves, but ionizing radiation, and reported how Secret Service agents managed to stop the threat, at least for the duration of Nixon's visit. That Carlson was able to pick up this story and retell it in a humorous fashion indicates that it was generally known in the Washington national security community. The story was also told, briefly, in Khrushchev's Cold War, by Aleksandr Fursenko and Timothy Naftali (p. 249 and note 49, pub. 2006).
II. Phenomena: Moscow Microwaves in the 1960s and 1970s.
Information on Moscow Signal is sketchy in the public domain, but a recent book, “Phenomena,” published in 2017, by Annie Jacobson, adds in some new information on how the Moscow Signal issue was handled – or mishandled -- in the 1960s and 1970s.
Following the discovery that microwaves were being beamed at the US Embassy in Moscow, “scientists with Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory were assigned to oversee research into the phenomenon. An elaborate facility was constructed inside the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Forest Glen Section. Here, inside an anechoic chamber (an echo chamber designed to completely absorb reflections of either sound or electromagnetic waves), primates were irradiated with microwave beams with a power density similar to that of the Moscow Signal. ARPA’s Richard S. Cesaro was in charge of what was called Project Pandora. Within a few months of beaming the signal at the monkeys, Cesaro became convinced of its harmful nature, deciding that it adversely affected the internal organs of primates, including the brain. “In our experiments, we did some remarkable things. And there was no question in my mind that you can get into the brain with microwaves,” Cesaro later said. It was later determined that the microwave beam produced Alzheimer’s disease.” [It should be noted, however, that Cesaro’s findings were highly disputed, as were all findings that the microwaves caused harm to humans. Cesaro himself was fired from ARPA in 1969.]
During the 1960s, secret studies were carried out on Embassy Moscow personnel, who were not told about the microwaves, but were given the cover story that “viral studies” were being conducted.
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| U.S. Embassy Moscow, 1964 (Bettman Archive) |
There was much controversy about whether microwaves were harmful. Dr. Samuel Koslov, a Navy scientist who worked on the ARPA project, contended the signals were harmless. Many others did not agree, but Koslov’s view eventually prevailed.
A few government scientists broke ranks and discussed the government’s shortcomings in the area of electromagnetic weapons. They included the biologist Dr. Allan H. Frey, who made a number of important contributions to the study of microwaves, including the discovery of the “Frey effect,” or the ability of subjects to hear microwaves at certain frequencies and interpret the sound as clicks.
A colleague, Dr. Robert O. Becker, resigned from his position because he thought the research the US government was conducting was immoral. At this time, the government was still keeping Moscow Signal secret from Embassy Moscow employees, and reportedly had used microwaves to experiment secretly on U.S. Navy personnel at the Philadelphia Navy Yard. “Becker’s government work convinced him that a microwave signal such as the Moscow Signal ‘could affect the central nervous system, put people to sleep, interfere with decision-making capacity and induce chronic stress,’ he said, and noted that the Soviets had been ‘using embassy employees as test subjects for low-level EMR [electromagnetic radiation] experiments.’
“The government had succeeded in keeping the programs secret, from the discovery of the Moscow Signal in 1962* until February 1976, when the Los Angeles Times broke the story. The unraveling had begun in 1973 when a new and more powerful set of Soviet microwave beams were picked up by the CIA in Moscow. Like the original Moscow Signal, these new electromagnetic beams were aimed at the upper floors of the embassy, where the ambassador and top intelligence officials had their offices.
“Finally, fourteen years after its discovery, in January 1976, U.S. Ambassador Walter Stoessel was briefed on the Moscow Signal. Stoessel filed a formal protest with the Soviets and…informed embassy personnel about their exposure to high-powered microwave beam radiation. ‘Several members of the embassy staff display symptoms that are non-specific but have been reported frequently in patients chronically exposed to non-ionizing radiation,” a State Department doctor reported. Symptoms included severe headaches, inability to concentrate, and fatigue.
“One hundred U.S. Embassy employees previously stationed in Moscow filed $250 million worth of lawsuits against the government for exposure related to Moscow Signal. In response, the State Department funded a [$300,000] study by the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health, the same institution that had created the synthetic Moscow Signal against the monkeys. The study, released in November 1978, found ‘no convincing evidence that any employees suffered ‘adverse health effects as of the time of this analysis.’ According to State Department medical consultant Dr. Herbert Pollack, who advocated on behalf of the victims in a Senate subcommittee investigation, every suit was eventually withdrawn, ‘without a penny being paid.’
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*Note: Just as it took seven years for the US to discover that radio waves were activating a bug in Spaso House (1945-52), it is likely that the Soviets were using microwaves on Embassy Moscow long before they were first noted in 1962. This is why, for example, the 1978 Johns Hopkins study surveyed Embassy personnel going all the way back to the opening of the OOB at Tchaikovsky 19 in 1953.
It also raises the question, which will probably never be answered, of
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| 13 Mokhovaya |
Based on this report, which was done in 2019, there are strong indications that the 1978 Johns Hopkins study was rushed out to counter the $250 million in lawsuits that were pending and may have been toned down by the State Department to avoid liability. It was not peer-reviewed at the time.
Some major conclusions of the 2019 re-evaluation:
1. "In 2011, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) categorized radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as a possible carcinogen (Group 2B), and the debate over the safety of microwaves has raged ever since. The recent findings on animal experiments published by the National Program of Toxicology (2, 3) and the Ramazzini Institute (4) seem to indicate that a re-evaluation is needed, and that radiofrequency electromagnetic fields should be reclassified as being probably carcinogenic to humans (Group 2A), or even as being carcinogenic to humans (Group 1),"
2. Havana Syndrome is strongly suspected to be the result of a microwave attack. Because of the similarity in symptoms to those experienced by victims of Moscow Signal: "The “Moscow Signal” case, therefore, needs to be seriously reconsidered."
3. "The researcher J. R. Goldsmith harshly criticized the results of the study of Lilienfeld et al. [the Johns Hopkins study] (1), claiming that the findings had been massaged by the US Department of State, and that the results had been toned down (32). Goldsmith criticized the methodology of comparing the staff of the [Moscow] embassy with that of the other embassies. Why use the other embassies as a control group? How could they be sure that these other embassies had not also been irradiated? As indicated by Carpenter (22), Goldsmith reinterpreted the data from the original study by grouping the cases of deaths among all the embassies and comparing them with the reference population. By presenting the data in this way, the results change ostensibly. Goldsmith linked the cases of workers’ deaths to those of their relatives (“dependents”), which resulted in mortality due to leukemia becoming significant in Moscow. He then added these results to those of the other embassies (“both groups”) and found a statistically higher-than-expected number of cases of leukemia, brain tumors and breast cancer."
4. "According to EMFacts (33), an initial study carried out in Moscow in 1967 on a group of 43 workers (37 exposed and seven unexposed), found abnormalities in the chromosomes of 20 of the 37 who had been exposed to microwaves, compared to two of the seven who had not. Subsequently, in 1976, another hematological study found significant differences between the embassy workers in Moscow and other employees of the foreign affairs service. Larger numbers of white blood cells were reported among the Moscow staff, but these results were never published."
5. "In 1977, in an article published in the Los Angeles Times (37), it was reported that an “authority” had told President Carter that the first residents of the embassy had the highest incidence of cancer of any group of people in the world." [Note: According to Paul Brodeur, Zbigniew Brzezinski told him the same thing in March, 1976. "The Zapping of America," p. 129].
6. Also, in 1977, Stevens (38) published that a third of the diplomats and their families had shown abnormally high levels of lymphocyte counts in recent months. Although at first this was linked to microwaves, the medical authorities soon abandoned this theory, claiming that it was temporary and not a cause for alarm, and that this was not indicative of the development of leukemia. These levels of lymphocytes returned to normal 2 weeks after the individuals left Moscow. The cause of this abnormal level of lymphocytes was blamed on a possible parasite in the drinking water, or on a respiratory infection. However, as Stevens indicated in his article, there was no evidence that the Soviet citizens of Moscow had such high anomalies in the incidence rate as those that existed in the embassy. Stoessel’s death from leukemia a few years later cast doubt on the official American version."
7. "It is unclear why workers and relatives were chosen as study subjects when some of these relatives, including wives and children, obviously received much less exposure to the microwave bombardment."
8. "The authors admit that some medical records were never found, as the investigation was stopped prematurely due to the urgent need to publish the results. Recall that the investigators involved were under pressure to finish the report by a given deadline, and this led to relevant information not being included."
IV. 1996 Incident in "a Hostile Country."
NPR published an article on October 21, 2021 that may be the first detailed reporting on a possible crossover link between Moscow Signal and Havana Syndrome. Titled "Long before Havana Syndrome, the U.S. reported microwaves beamed at an embassy," the story led with details of a 1996 attack on NSA personnel on TDY in "a hostile country."
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| Hypothetical Embassy in "a hostile country" |
"In 1996, Michael Beck and a colleague at the National Security Agency were sent to a 'hostile country' on a brief assignment. After being detained at the airport for about an hour, they were allowed to go, but they knew they were being closely watched. A few days into the assignment, Beck woke up at his hotel feeling terrible. 'It was extreme fatigue and weakness. I was a bowl of jelly and couldn't get moving,' said Beck. He was suspicious of the cause, but the symptoms went away. A full decade later, Beck was diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson's disease at age 46. At almost exactly the same time, his colleague from that trip, Chuck Gubete, received the very same diagnosis. Gubete, who died several years later, had a family history of Parkinson's, but Beck didn't. Beck came to believe that his illness was caused while on that trip, and he filed a workers' compensation claim with the NSA. As part of the process, the NSA sent Beck a short but striking letter in 2014: 'The National Security Agency confirms there is intelligence information from 2012 associating the hostile country to which Mr. Beck traveled in the late 1990s with a high powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence,' the letter said. 'This weapon is designed to target the living quarters in microwaves, causing numerous physical effects, including a damaged nervous system,' the letter added. The letter also said that it had no evidence that such a weapon "if it existed" had or had not been used against Mr. Beck.
Beck, now living in Maryland, is still battling to prove his claim. The country he traveled to remains classified. But his attorney Mark Zaid notes that the NSA letter was written in 2014 — two years before the first Havana Syndrome cases were reported. 'Here we have an unclassified document from a U.S. intelligence agency admitting it knows of this before Havana,' Zaid said." [Note: Perhaps not coincidentally, an article appeared in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on April 12, 2012 on the same subject].
The identity of the “hostile country” is still classified, but Beck told CBS News in 2019 that the incident in 1996 that made him and his colleague sick occurred in neither Cuba nor China, thus narrowing the field of potential suspects quite a bit – most likely, to one: Russia.
See also blog bibliography item 8A: "Havana Syndrome: NSA Officer's Case Hints at Microwave Attacks since 90s."
Postscript: On June 28, 2023, Courthouse News reported that NSA had prevailed against Beck in a lawsuit to release classified information on his case. The court appears to have disregarded NSA's 2014 admission that the "hostile country" had a microwave weapon that might affect a person's health. The decision seems to give weight only to the fact that there is no evidence the "hostile country" used such a weapon on Mr. Beck and not to NSA's original admission that the "hostile country" did indeed have such a weapon. I'll be interested to see the legal fallout from this.
I have a feeling this case is not over. See Blog bibliography item 72:
https://www.courthousenews.com/nsa-prevails-on-ray-gun-foia/
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V. Blog Bibliography: Havana Syndrome/ Moscow Microwaves.
A select bibliography of articles and interviews in roughly chronological order.
0. The 1978 Johns Hopkins Moscow Microwave Report
1. Wikipedia on the latest unclassified information on Moscow Signal. Also, the latest information on Directed Energy Weapons. Here is the Ruwiki (Putin regime sanitized Wikipedia) article on Moscow Signal. [note: As of 30 Apr 2024, there is no article on Moscow Signal, just a title and an invitation to start editing].
1A. Wikipedia on the latest unclassified information on Havana Syndrome. Here is the Ruwiki (Putin regime sanitized Wikipedia) article on Havana Syndrome.
1B. A July, 1993 article in Bioenergoinformatics, by Igor Vinokurov and Georgy Gurtovoi, entitled: "The Media, Government Departments, and Psychotronic Weapons."
1C. An August 24, 2010 article in the Daily Mail entitled, "Prison to Use 'Excruciating' Laser Pain Ray to Control Unruly Inmates."
1D. An April 6, 2012 article in NBC News by Science Editor Alan Boyle entitled: "Reality Check on Russia's "Zombie Ray Gun' Program." A highly skeptical look at Russian and American efforts to produce a microwave weapon, noting, however that "Moscow is planning to set up an advanced military research agency similar to the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, and Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov referred to those plans on March 22. Here's what the RIA Novosti news agency quoted him as saying during a meeting with Prime Minister (and President-elect) Vladimir Putin: "The development of weaponry based on new physics principles — direct-energy weapons, geophysical weapons, wave-energy weapons, genetic weapons, psychotronic weapons, etc. — is part of the state arms procurement program for 2011-2020 ... We will draft the proposals for the next program by December 2012." According to the Daily Mail, Moscow sources quoted Putin as saying that "the weapons would be ‘entirely new instruments for achieving political and strategic goals...Such high-tech weapons systems will be comparable in effect to nuclear weapons, but will be more acceptable in terms of political and military ideology."
2. Rossiyskaya Gazeta article of April 12, 2012 brags about how in the Soviet era "The USSR leapfrogged ahead of the United States in creating weapons that actually use "new physical principles," namely beams and rays directed by generators that are designed to affect the psychological state of individual targets. It is noted that many who used these generators died of cancer.
2B. Directed Energy Weapon Systems Acquisition Act of 2016.
2C. A Just Security article from August 21, 2017, by John Sipher, entitled "Sonic 'Attacks' on US Diplomats in Cuba: Don't Rush to Conclusions."
3. A Diplopundit article from August 29, 2017, entitled "Microwaving U.S. Embassy Moscow: Oral History from FSOs James Schumaker and William A. Brown."
3A. An article published in the December 2017 issue of URSI Radio Science Bulletin by James C. Lin, entitled, "The Moscow Embassy Microwave Signal." Alternate link
3B. An April 25, 2018 article in "The War Zone" entitled, "The Pentagon Wants to Stop Marauding Vehicles with High-Powered Microwave Beams." "At its most basic, the concept is fairly simple. An array of microwave emitters shoots out a beam of energy that jams electronic devices, such as the control unit in an engine, effectively shutting it down...The force application type is small enough to fit on the back of a truck and could be used to stop a fleeing vehicle or to defend convoys on the move. This could also be useful for law enforcement personnel attempting to stop a specific suspect vehicle or a small smuggling boat. JNLWD says the present prototype of this system has an effective range of approximately 160 feet, according to Defense One." Comment: But I'm sure no one has ever thought of putting a system like this in a white van and using it on people. 🙄
3C. A Russia Today article by Aleksey Zakvasin entitled "New Physical Principles: What Russian Electromagnetic Weapons Can Do," from October 1, 2018.
3D. A Tass article by Roman Azanov entitled "Burn Effect: Russian Electromagnetic Weapons: Fantasy or Reality?," from October 2, 2018.
4. A New Yorker article on Havana Syndrome by Adam Entous entitled “The Mystery of Havana Syndrome,” from November 19, 2018. Very comprehensive for the time.
5. Armeyskiy Sbornik article of January 1, 2019 claims that RF/MW weapons "have significantly decreased in size and can be installed on a tank turret and even at the head of a tactical missile ... The [target] begins to hear non-existent noises and whistles ... When exposed to low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, the human brain releases chemicals that regulate its behavior. [The RF/MW devices] can cause symptoms of various diseases..." [Note: As of 2023, the Russian MoD has blocked access to the article. Luckily, however, I found this in San Clemente's unofficial national security library.]
5A. A January 29, 2019 study by De Gruyter, entitled: "Health Effects of Microwave Radiation: What the "Moscow Signal Revealed."
5B. A notice filed by the Waddell Philips legal corporation announcing a lawsuit against the Government of Canada by Canadian diplomats affected by Havana Syndrome, dated February 6, 2019. Here is an update from December 23, 2019, and another from March 19, 2024. As of the last date, the case is still before the courts.
6. A JAMA Study entitled "Neuroimaging Findings in US Government Personnel With Possible Exposure to Directional Phenomena in Havana, Cuba," from July 23/30, 2019.
7. A GQ article on Havana Syndrome by Julia Ioffe entitled “The Mystery of the Immaculate Concussion,” from October 19, 2020.
8. A December 2020 report by the US National Academies of Sciences concluded that directed, high-energy, pulsed microwaves were most likely responsible for some of the cases diagnosed as Havana Syndrome.
8A. A Guardian article dated May 2, 2021, "Havana Syndrome: NSA Officer's Case Hints at Microwave Attacks since 90s."
9. The Havana Act, introduced by Senator Susan Collins on May 19, 2021 and signed into law on October 8, 2021.
10. A Guardian article dated June 2, 2021, "Microwave Weapons that Could Cause Havana Syndrome Exist, Experts Say." Sadovnik said that a device capable of causing Havana Syndrome symptoms could be relatively portable. “It’s quite conceivable that you can hide it in a car, or in a van but it would not work over a long distance,” he said. “You can do it through a wall, say, if you are in the next room in a hotel.”
11. A June 23, 2021 Eric Heseltine article in Psychology Today that provides significant evidence Havana Syndrome may be caused by devices that are similar to those used in the case of Moscow Signal -- just much more advanced, much more powerful, and well-hidden.
12. A BBC report on Havana Syndrome entitled "Havana Syndrome and the Mystery of the Microwaves," from September 9, 2021. Generally accurate. The article also reports on comments made by Ambassador Matlock to them on Moscow Signal, including information that Ambassador Stoessel had threatened to resign over Moscow Signal, that he had leukemia, that Embassy spouses were worried about Moscow Signal because their children were in a nursery in the basement, and that the Soviets told him the purpose of the microwaves was to jam our equipment. Ambassador Matlock has denied to me that he said these things to BBC.
13. An August 11, 2021 Article published by Polygraph.info, an organization owned by Voice of America, discusses Russian efforts to develop microwave weapons, as well as Russian disinformation efforts to deflect attention from this subject. "Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, defense ministry, top military developers and experts all have hinted at or boasted about electromagnetic weapons."
13A. A September 21, 2021 BBC report entitled "CIA Officer Suffered from Havana Syndrome during India Trip."
14. A September 22, 2021 NBC News story reporting that Pamela Spratlen the "Diplomat overseeing 'Havana Syndrome' response is out after six months." Ambassador Spratlen was widely reported to be unsympathetic to Havana Syndrome sufferers and refused to rule out the "mass hysteria" explanation of the symptoms.
15. A September 30, 2021 Buzzfeed story on the 2018 JASON Report [very heavily redacted], which looked into the theory that cricket sounds were related to Havana Syndrome, most likely by causing psychogenic illness. Long since discredited. The psychogenic illness theory is still, however, prominently featured as a Cuban and Russian disinformation line.
16. An October 13, 2021 Andrea Mitchell interview of three victims of Havana Syndrome. Many of their symptoms are similar to those noted when victims of Moscow Signal were being studied, indicating microwaves as a possible cause in both cases.
16A. An October 21, 2021 story on National Public Radio by Greg Myre entitled: "Long Before Havana Syndrome, the U.S. Reported Microwaves Beamed at an Embassy." Covers the 1996 Beck case (IV. 1996 Incident in "a Hostile Country."), including an interview with former NSA staffer Mike Beck, National Security Lawyer Mark Zaid, former CIA Moscow Station Chief John Sipher, and Dr. James Giordano, professor of neurology at Georgetown University. One focus of the interview is on the similarities between Moscow Microwaves and Havana Syndrome.
17. An October 29, 2021 scientific study of how the thermal effects of microwaves can cause traumatic brain injury (TBI).
18. A November 5, 2021 NBC News story entitled "State Department Names New Chief of Task Force Overseeing Havana Syndrome Response."
18a. The November 7, 2021 JASON report on Havana Syndrome. Basically denies the reality of Havana Syndrome, says cannot conclude that personnel are being subjected to high-energy attacks, and that only a small number of cases cannot be explained by other factors. In other words, circular reasoning: since there is insufficient evidence to prove for sure that personnel are being attacked, no personnel are being attacked. See items 15, 66.
"Regarding adversarial intent, it is not possible to conclude at this time that the events reviewed by JASON are the result of intentional attacks that cause physical harm. However, it is not possible either, to rule out mechanisms that do not cause any physical harm but which might constitute harassment and lead to health conditions and functional disorders, for example through unpleasant sounds or pressure sensations. Given this, and in the interest of protecting embassy personnel and their families, it would be prudent to be vigilant against tactics intended to produce anxiety and trauma, with an intent to either disrupt operations and/or cause long-term harm The US government could minimize the effects of such tactics, if present, through open communication, education, and appropriate rapid medical response to any conditions that develop."
19. Peter Kornbluh's Nation article on Havana Syndrome from November 13, 2021.
20. A One-hour November 17, 2021 interview with Dr. David Relman, the lead scientist on the NAS report; a number of useful observations.
21. The Accountability Review Board report on Havana Syndrome, originally released in June 2018, is declassified and released on November 19, 2021. The ARB report "faults both the Department of State and the CIA in their responses to early cases of the Havana Syndrome at the U.S. Embassy in Cuba. The report is also the first official confirmation that the CIA closed down its Havana station and pulled its operatives out of Cuba in September 2017. In the report, the ARB criticized the CIA for failing to share information about the health-related experiences of its agents in Havana in late 2016 and early 2017, delaying the State Department’s ability to react quickly.
"...the ARB faulted the failure of an organized response to the emerging crisis on multiple fronts, not just excessive CIA secrecy. The report found that “The Department of State’s response to these incidents was characterized by a lack of senior leadership, ineffective communications, and systemic disorganization.” Most notably, “The Board finds the lack of a designated official at the Under Secretary level to manage the response to be the single most significant deficiency in the Department’s response. To this day [June 2018] no senior official at the Department has been assigned responsibility for leading and coordinating efforts to assess past incidents and prevent/mitigate future events. No Department of State task force was formed.” The ARB also concluded that Secretary Tillerson’s dramatic decision in late September 2017 to reduce the Havana Embassy staff by more than 60 percent and effectively shutter the U.S. Consulate appeared to have violated normal operating practice."
Here is the National Security Archive release of the Accountability Review Board report.
22. Washington Post article, November 24, 2021. CIA Director Burns warns Russians over Havana Syndrome during Moscow visit Nov. 2, 2021.
22A. A December 2021 Naval Postgraduate School Thesis, entitled: "Neurowar is Here!" by Joshua D. Gramm and Brian A. Branagan.
23. An NYT article on developments as of December 2, 2021.
25. An NBC News documentary on Havana Syndrome with a short segment on Moscow Signal at 14:40--16:10 with me. Went live at 0400 PST on December 22, 2021.
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| Jim and Tanya Schumaker, 2012 |
26. Foreign Service Journal, January/February 2022 issue. "Before Havana Syndrome, There Was Moscow Signal." by James Schumaker (alternate link: https://afsa.org/havana-syndrome-there-was-moscow-signal )
27. A New York Times article entitled "Most ‘Havana Syndrome’ Cases Unlikely Caused by Foreign Power, C.I.A. Says," from January 20, 2022 reports that an interim CIA report on Havana Syndrome throws cold water on the idea that some foreign power is behind Havana Syndrome, and now limits the number of unexplained cases to a couple of dozen, not 200 or so, as previously thought. The assertions in this article were walked back by the interagency redacted report (note 30) and CIA Director Bill Burns' interview with CBS Sixty Minutes (note 33).
28. Diplopundit archives on Havana Syndrome, January 19, 2022. [Broken Link as of 26 Oct 2023]
29. A Politico article entitled "Directed-energy could explain unsolved ‘Havana Syndrome’ cases, U.S. intelligence panel finds," from February 2, 2022, in which the Intelligence Community walks back initial press stories on the CIA interim report, and notes that some core cases can be explained by electromagnetic or ultrasonic energy, but not addressing the question of whether there is a perpetrator.
30. The redacted executive summary of the IC Experts Panel on Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs), from February 1, 2022. Despite the blacked-out text, much is revealed.
31. A Washington Post article entitled "External energy source may explain ‘Havana syndrome,’ panel finds, renewing questions about possible foreign attack," from February 1, 2022, says some cases can be explained by directed energy, but notes that the question of whether a state actor is at work has not been addressed by the IC.
31A. A Guardian article dated February 2, 2022 entitled “Havana Syndrome could be caused by pulsed energy devices – US expert report.”
32. A WhoWhatWhy article entitled "Havana Syndrome is likely real, Feds admit," from February 7, 2022, by famed science investigative reporter Paul Brodeur discussing the similarities between Havana Syndrome and Moscow Signal. Brodeur is 90 years old, but doesn't seem to have lost a step.
33. A CBS Sixty Minutes program entitled "Targeting Americans" from February 20, 2022, reports on Havana Syndrome cases on White House grounds and elsewhere in the United States. Members of VP Pence and Bolton staff were affected. A white van was identified in the vicinity of one attack. Other attacks were described as well: diplomatic staffers in China, Vietnam, India, Vienna and Havana. One family, being treated for Havana Syndrome in Philadelphia experienced attacks in multiple locations. Most likely cause: pulsed microwaves (pictures of portable Russian microwave transmitters shown). Interviews with CIA Director Bill Burns, Dr. David Relman, and James Benford. Burns walked back the premature conclusions of a CIA report which said it was unlikely that a foreign power was behind the attacks. A coordinated interagency report concluded on February 1, 2022 that directed energy attacks were a plausible cause and -- in the redacted version at least -- did not rule foreign actors in or out. The CBS Sixty Minutes program was repeated on June 26, 2022, with some updates. You need to be a Paramount+ subscriber to view it.
33a. An article from March 7, 2022 in Brain Communications, entitled Symptoms reported by Canadians posted in Havana are linked with reduced white matter fibre density. "A study of 16 adult Canadians who reported health incidents in Havana found changes in areas of their brains that were similar to those found in the Americans affected. The study was requested by Global Affairs Canada, the agency that oversees diplomatic relations." [source: item 66]
34. Foreign Service Journal, March 2022 issue. Regarding Moscow Signal, by Jon LeChevet. Retired Embassy Moscow Technical Security Officer argues that Moscow Signal could not have had adverse health effects.
35. A Washington Post article entitled "U.S. to give some 'Havana syndrome' victims six-figure compensation" from June 23, 2022.
36. An RFE/RL video from June 23, 2022 showing a Ukrainian rifle that uses radio waves to disable Russian drones.
37. An interesting Zeit article on Havana Syndrome, dated June 30, 2022. It covers two cases in detail -- those of Robyn Garfield, a Commerce Dept official stationed in Shanghai, and an anonymous CIA employee interviewed under the pseudonym "Adam," also known as "Patient Zero," who was stationed in Havana (these two were also interviewed by CBS Sixty Minutes.
Zeit also details the initial and wholly inadequate State Department response under Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. "When diplomats and agents are injured or even die in the line of duty, the State Department is required by law to launch an investigation within 60 days. But an investigation into the Cuba cases was only opened more than a year later, and then only under pressure from Congress. The results of that inquiry, however, were withheld from Congress, aside from a meager summary. Finally, a Freedom of Information Act suit filed on behalf of a Cuba victim in 2021 – almost three years later –yielded a heavily redacted version of the report [note: a fully declassified version was released on November 19, 2021]. The results can be summarized as follows: The State Department showed no leadership, was disorganized and communicated ineffectively. "No government official ever had responsibility for the problem," the report reads. Furthermore, excessive secrecy prevented the necessary exchange of information between the CIA and the Department of Defense, the report found. All of which meant that the United States State Department proved unable to react appropriately to the threat – a staggering verdict. [Later,] Secretary of State Mike Pompeo rejected an investigation of the cases in China. Even today, such an inquiry has yet to take place." [comment: sounds suspiciously like what happened in the case of Moscow Signal].The Biden administration has performed far better, but much remains to be done. There is still a lot of interagency confusion. Zeit notes correctly, however, that pulsed microwaves are still viewed as the most plausible cause of Havana Syndrome, and that the interagency report from earlier this year recognizes that fact. Zeit also reports that efforts by scientists to publish on pulsed microwaves are being stopped by the Department of Defense (presumably because they are doing such research themselves).
Meanwhile, the question of who may be behind Havana Syndrome is just as murky as ever. "According to a report in the New Yorker , the theory the government is currently operating under is that Russian intelligence agents are seeking to use the microwaves to copy data from the victims’ mobile phones or computers and that the physical symptoms are unintentional side effects. The State Department declined to confirm this theory when contacted, but did not exclude the possibility of "foreign actors."
Zeit also passes along reports that CIA and State are having trouble recruiting new officers as a result of concerns about Havana Syndrome, a contention State denies, saying that it has no trouble hiring. State, as usual, is intentionally missing the point. Applications for the Foreign Service are way down for a variety of reasons, so the pool of applicants to choose from is much smaller than before.
38. Six Secrets, July 8, 2022 "Havana Syndrome." Explores the history of Havana Syndrome and Moscow Signal.
39. At the Aspen Security Forum, July 20, 2022, CIA Director Bill Burns tells NBC's Andrea Mitchell that the CIA doesn’t believe that the Russians, or any foreign power, are trying “to harm US personnel with a weapon or some kind of external device.” Here is the full interview. The relevant portion starts at 40:29. Comment: Interestingly, Amb. Burns' denial is carefully nuanced. In particular, he does not deny that a foreign power may be using an external device for some purpose other than harming American personnel -- i.e., to snoop on smartphones or other electronic devices. This has echoes of Moscow Signal, where we knew the Soviets were using microwaves, but could never determine exactly what for, or whether there were health consequences for those in the path of the microwaves. In the case of Moscow Signal, it is increasingly clear that there was an active effort to suppress the truth. In the case of Havana Syndrome, however, initial efforts to ignore the issue under the Trump administration have given way to active efforts to get to the truth -- so for the victims of Havana Syndrome, there is more cause for optimism that we will find definitive answers to the questions that remain.
40. A Newsy story dated August 26, 2022, entitled "FBI agents in U.S. report symptoms from mystery syndrome." FBI agents are reporting symptoms that sound a lot like Havana Syndrome. This is ironic, since the FBI studied Havana Syndrome when it first appeared among US diplomats in Cuba, and concluded that it was probably psychogenic in nature (i.e., the result of hysteria).
On September 15, the second tranche was published, detailing diplomatic negotiations over Moscow Signal 1967-77. There are several notable aspects to these papers. One continuous Soviet line was to lie that they were not beaming microwaves at the Embassy when in fact they were. They also claimed that the ambient microwave environment was well within Russian safety standards. This was accurate, for the most part, but failed to account for continuous exposure, and for the fact that occasionally Soviet safety standards were exceeded, with levels sometimes being measured at 13 microwatts per square centimeter (the Soviet limit was 10 microwatts, ours was 1,000). In addition, documents reveal there was an agreement in 1976 for Soviet and U.S. specialists to meet and discuss the microwave signals being beamed at the Embassy. The papers also show that press guidance started out as an effort to happy-talk the problem away, but gradually got more serious and detailed in response to AFSA criticism.
42A. A Yahoo article by Michael Isikoff entitled "How a Soviet Plot to Beam the U.S. Embassy with Microwaves Led to a 'Brain Weapons Arms Race.'", dated September 15, 2022. Focuses on farcical efforts in the 1960s to do microwave experiments on monkeys, and fails to take seriously the possibility of actual health effects that surfaced later, although it does report Ambassador Stoessel's suspicion that his leukemia may have been caused by microwaves. A companion piece to the podcast "Conspiracyland: the Strange Story of Havana Syndrome," two of whose episodes focus on Moscow Signal.
Episode 1. "Jericho." Deals with several Havana Syndrome incidents at the Embassy in Cuba. I am quoted briefly at 26:37 (no context).
Third, the sudden disappearance of new Havana Syndrome cases coincides with the visit of CIA Director Bill Burns to Moscow in November 2021, during which he "delivered a confidential warning to Russia’s top intelligence services that they will face “consequences” if they are behind the string of mysterious health incidents known as “Havana Syndrome.”
51. ODNI issued an unclassified version of their Havana Syndrome assessment which is very useful. Updated Assessment of Anomalous Health Incidents, March 1, 2023.
"One interesting coincidence regarding the attacks was that they began in 2016, approximately one year after the U.S. restored diplomatic relations with Cuba. During the Cold War, Cuba was considered a prized ally by the Soviet Union due to its proximity to the United States. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s desire to restore the Soviet Union and its spheres of influence are well known. If Putin felt Cuba might drift away from Russia, he might order his intelligence services to undermine the work of newly arrived American diplomats—in a way that doesn’t lead a trail back to Moscow.
"The Takeaway
"Reports of Havana syndrome slowed as it gained publicity, with the latest reported incidents happening in Geneva and Paris in 2021. Is Havana syndrome an attack created by a man-made device, a natural phenomenon, or a case of mass hysteria? If it is an attack, we have a possible explanation for how the machine works, a precedent, and a political motive.
"Whatever is going on, it is complex enough that U.S. intelligence agencies are unable to determine the cause—even as it happens to their own people."
Here is part two, released on April 3, 2024. Here is the transcript. Features Marc Polymeropoulos. 45 minutes in length. Strong circumstantial evidence that American personnel have been the victims of a Russian attack. Why is the USG not acknowledging this? Faye Flam Bloomberg Science columnist (not well informed on latest developments): Havana Syndrome is real, but probably has large psychosomatic component. Jerry O'Shea: We already know the Russians have bathed our Embassy in Microwaves. Until Bill Burns, CIA resisted dealing with reports of Havana Syndrome. CIA then sent out worldwide query, got 1500+ possible cases, winnowed down to a couple of dozen who all were in CIA, had similar symptoms, worked in Russian specialty areas. JASON Group skeptical that microwaves could cause Havana Syndrome, but did not have all information and no access to victims. In the past, JASON group has been skeptical about similar Russian capabilities and been proven wrong. Attacks may not be directed at people, but devices. Frey effect discussed. Next Guest: Marc Polymeropoulos. Details his experiences (see Insider article). Trashes the "mass hysteria" theory. Says previous administration (Trump) messed up on Havana Syndrome and also on the bounties in Afghanistan issue (in latter case, intelligence is conclusive that Russians were guilty). Russians have never been held accountable. White House didn't want to hear anything about Russians targeting Americans. Doesn't get into specifics or IG report, but says he has briefed Congressional committees, obvious he thinks CIA handled Havana Syndrome very badly, and his case is just one of many. In his case, CIA was so obstructionist he finally had to go public with an article by Julia Ioffe. Very embarrassing to the Agency. CIA also screwed up by sending out worldwide inquiry on Havana Syndrome symptoms. Just caused people to report in who didn't have the Syndrome and obscured the few dozen who did. Many colleagues and one junior doctor stood by Marc, but Senior doctors and officials behaved very badly, just got in the way. Jake Sullivan and Bill Burns met with CIA doctors, told them their obstructionism was very detrimental to Marc's care. Marc knows many colleagues who have suffered worse than he has. CIA as an institution didn't want to acknowledge or deal with the problem under Trump. If Havana Syndrome is due to a hostile foreign actor, it's an act of war. There are a couple of dozen cases that are TBI's without prior medical history, cannot be explained satisfactorily. Several dozen are getting compensation from Havana Act, although it isn't enough. In light of recent revelations about Havana Syndrome, "everything's shifted wildly." CIA still briefing that everyone had pre-existing conditions and that Marc and others' cases are not real even though they are getting compensation. "It's bullshit." Moderator notes that CIA has been burned several times by jumping to conclusions (WMD, Iraq War), and so now are gun-shy. This case is even worse, because they know if they make an analytic judgment, the administration will be forced to act. Marc says he believes Russians may have been using some device for espionage purposes, realized it also hurt people, and then started using it for that purpose. Moderator notes that Donald Trump's attitude toward Vladimir Putin may have also affected CIA's willingness to draw conclusions. Marc agrees, but says that under Trump the holdup was more a matter of gross incompetence. Under Biden, the analysts are freer to do assessments, and Biden takes the matter seriously. Moderator: Havana Syndrome is not a conspiracy theory, it is a mystery for which we do not yet have all the answers. Who is going to accept an assignment to Moscow, not knowing the answers to the questions posed by Havana Syndrome? Perhaps it is just too dangerous. For whoever is doing this, maybe creating chaos and a feeling of danger is the objective. Coupled with this is a feeling that there are no longer any rules. CIA never uses journalist for cover, for example, and both sides know this, and yet Russia is treating journalists very differently now than they did before, as if they were all spies without immunity. Bottom line: it's "credible to likely" that the Russians are up to something, but we won't know for sure until "one fine day" we get the right defector. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Just because we can't pin Havana Syndrome for sure on one actor doesn't mean that no one is guilty. The most likely conclusion is that some people (like Marc) were the victims of a hostile attack. We know for sure the Russians are already involved in assassinations and sabotage. It is likely that they are also causing Havana Syndrome. Vladimir Putin has changed the rules of the game.
"A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Members of the Kremlin’s infamous military intelligence sabotage squad have been placed at the scene of suspected attacks on overseas U.S. government personnel and their family members, leading victims to question what Washington knows about the origins of Havana Syndrome, and what an appropriate Western response might entail." https://theins.press/en/politics/270425
90. A CBS Sixty Minutes segment entitled "Targeting Americans," dated March 31, 2024, updates the segment from two years ago (see notes 33, 86, and 88). Too many startling revelations to summarize. Take a look at the videos and the referenced notes.
Of course, everyone is grateful that no one will be punished for saying that the Emperor has no clothes, but it is past time for the Department and the community as a whole to bring their position into conformity with the obvious truth: the Russians, specifically the GRU, are attacking US diplomats and other government personnel with microwave weaponry that causes Havana Syndrome. To repeat, they are attacking our personnel. Any position short of this does a disservice to those loyal employees who have suffered as a result of Russian attacks and does a disservice to the American people as a whole. It's time to face facts, draw the appropriate conclusions, and take action.
Signed Acoustic Weapon Contract (2017)
"The March 31 report broadcast on 60 Minutes revealed new evidence of a potential Russian nexus tied to mysterious illnesses suffered by U.S. national security officials. In response, a bipartisan group of lawmakers last week sent a letter to President Biden calling for a "renewed assessment by the U.S. government" of what officials call "anomalous health incidents."
"At this time, we recognize that we must not let allegations carry more weight than evidence," the members of Congress wrote. "However, the 60 Minutes piece presented compelling evidence that warrants further review."
"The letter was signed by, among others, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.
"There is no higher priority than the health and safety of American government employees and family members who commit their lives to advance U.S. national security interests," they wrote. "We must do everything we can to protect them."
134. An August 30, 2024 article in the New York Times by Adam Goldman and Julian E. Barnes, entitled "FBI Releases Redacted Report on Havana Syndrome." The report, originally written in 2019, sowed doubts within the CIA and Trump administration about the root causes of the ailments. Here is the redacted version. It would appear that since then the FBI has changed its tune since its agents are now reporting Havana Syndrome symptoms (See note 40). See also notes 48 (episode 8), 66, 110A, 104 and 121.
In addition to rehearsing the history of previously-known AHI incidents, Schindler also discusses a few that have not been made public before, including an attack "a few years ago" on FBI families on a beach in Turkey by Russian GRU operatives holding a handheld device. Turkey's intelligence service, MIT, filmed the attack, but the evidence, although recovered by the US, is now "missing." 
141. A September 19, 2024 post in the Top Secret Umbra substack by John Schindler entitled, "The Greatest Threat to American Spies is Their Own Leadership. Whistleblowers are trying to expose the awful truth about “Havana Syndrome,” but the Biden-Harris administration won’t let them."
"The whistleblower who went to the IC’s Inspector General is a CIA officer and AHI victim whose tale of bureaucratic abuse by the top echelons of the IC is genuinely shocking, even to cynical, world-weary counterspies like yours truly. [Significantly, the victim was assaulted within the United States.] It cites “urgent concern” that IC leaders have systematically lied about AHI to virtually everybody, including Congress. In particular, it alleges that ODNI intentionally misrepresented Havana Syndrome in the March 2023 Intelligence Community Assessment on the AHI matter, including “active suppression of dissent through the abuse of authority, knowing exclusion and suppression of intelligence or information which contradicts the predetermined analytic line, the active suppression of witnesses, and actions which may constitute obstruction of justice and witness tampering as defined in federal statute.”
"Should an adversary execute a directed energy attack in the United States without detection, then logically the FBI and the IC are not as effective in counterintelligence as portrayed internally and externally. The failure in subsequent years since 2016 to address also calls into question the competency and efficacy of [CIA] leadership…The existence of AHIs in the homeland, and arguably abroad, in which attribution is determined would then create a difficult policy question for the USG."
"There have been double-digit members of the FBI, employees of the FBI, who have been injured in multiple locations inside the United States," [Lawyer Mark] Zaid said. "These are cases that have been brought to the attention not only of the FBI but also the CIA and the DNI and folks on the Hill. These have not been really publicized in any way. In fact, the reality is domestic incidents are being downplayed, if not outright ignored, by the U.S. government."
"Zaid says the incidents have mostly occurred within the last four years. The common thread he's seen in victims across multiple agencies is work related to Russia." [Note: Zaid represented two NSA employees who suffered Havana Syndrome-like injuries while on TDY in Moscow in 1996].
40A. Department of Defense Directed Energy Weapons: Background and Issues for Congress. September 13, 2022.
41. Washington D.C., September 13, 2022 - On the 5th anniversary of the CIA’s September 13, 2017, decision to pull its agents out of Cuba, after several operatives were stricken with what has become known as the “Havana Syndrome,” the National Security Archive today posted the first of a declassified documentation series on the “Moscow Signals”—a decades-long chapter of the Cold War during which Soviet intelligence bathed the U.S. Embassy in Moscow with microwave transmissions on a daily basis, and, in the late 1950s, penetrated the U.S ambassador’s residence with ionizing radiation. The records published by the Archive are among those being reviewed by a special, high-level panel tasked by the Biden administration to search for clues into the enduring mystery surrounding cognitive brain traumas experienced by several dozen U.S. intelligence and diplomatic personnel in Havana, and elsewhere, over the last five years.
 |
| Glassboro Summit, June 1967 (Dobrynin Gromyko, Rusk, Thompson) |
On September 15, the second tranche was published, detailing diplomatic negotiations over Moscow Signal 1967-77. There are several notable aspects to these papers. One continuous Soviet line was to lie that they were not beaming microwaves at the Embassy when in fact they were. They also claimed that the ambient microwave environment was well within Russian safety standards. This was accurate, for the most part, but failed to account for continuous exposure, and for the fact that occasionally Soviet safety standards were exceeded, with levels sometimes being measured at 13 microwatts per square centimeter (the Soviet limit was 10 microwatts, ours was 1,000). In addition, documents reveal there was an agreement in 1976 for Soviet and U.S. specialists to meet and discuss the microwave signals being beamed at the Embassy. The papers also show that press guidance started out as an effort to happy-talk the problem away, but gradually got more serious and detailed in response to AFSA criticism.
On September 22, the third tranche was published revealing that the Soviets exposed then Vice President Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat, to ionizing radiation during his visit to Moscow in July 1959, according to declassified Secret Service records posted today by the National Security Archive.
The third tranche contains information that is of particular concern to those of us who lived for any length of time at Spaso House: the radiation discovered at Spaso House was ionizing radiation, as opposed to the non-ionizing radiation (microwaves) beamed at the Embassy. The radiation was detected at Spaso during Nixon’s visit, but it is unknown whether it was present at other times before or after. The radiation levels were highly unsafe – up to 18 roentgen per hour. A fatal dose would be 400 roentgen in a short period, and occupational safety standards in the US limit acceptable radiation to one-tenth of a roentgen per day. Several newspapers published stories on the third tranche, including this one in The Guardian, from September 22, 2022, entitled "Richard Nixon exposed to radiation on Moscow trip in 1959, documents reveal."
The Foreign Service Journal of November 2022 reviews the National Security Archive documents on p. 19, noting that "According to the archive website, the complete collection is currently being scrutinized by a high-level panel tasked by the Biden administration with investigating Havana syndrome, the mysterious brain trauma experienced by dozens of U.S. diplomats and intelligence officials over the past five years. The National Security Archive plans to post a larger special collection of supplementary documentation on the full history of Moscow Signal “in the near future.”
42. A Yahoo article by Michael Isikoff entitled "Top US Officials Cast Fresh Doubt on Sensational 'Havana Syndrome' Claims," dated September 14, 2022. It mischaracterizes the intelligence community's position, most likely not on purpose (see note 39).
42B. Conspiracyland: the Strange Story of Havana Syndrome, a five-part podcast released September 14-16, 2022 on Havana Syndrome, with two parts devoted to Moscow Signal.
43. A September 25, 2022 CNN special report on Havana Syndrome, hosted by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. One story focuses on a CIA doctor who suffered from Havana Syndrome. Here is the transcript of the special report. Moscow Microwaves are mentioned once.
44. On October 5, 2022 ADST published excerpts from Ambassador Hartman's Oral History. The Ambassador seemed to have a rather basic understanding of Soviet attempts to bug the New Office Building, but in one passage indicated that microwaves might have been involved: "One theory I’ve heard was the whole building was supposed to resonate from microwaves that were put on it and conversations could then be picked up." If what he heard was accurate, it would mean that the Russians were using, or preparing to use, microwaves against the US Embassy in the 1980s and after -- years after the period when most experts assumed that microwaving had stopped.
 |
| US Embassy Moscow 2000-Present (NOB and NEC 2003) photo: John Beyrle |
45. A CNN report, dated October 5, 2022, entitled "Dozens of CIA officers accuse intel agency of soft-pedaling its 'Havana Syndrome' investigation."
Quoting from the article: "As many as three dozen current and former CIA officers have gone to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees over the past year to raise concerns that a CIA task force has been soft-pedaling its investigation into a mysterious illness impacting agency officers and diplomats known colloquially as “Havana Syndrome,” sources tell CNN.
"The sheer scope of the outreach to Capitol Hill, which has not been previously reported, exposes a growing frustration among victims that the intelligence community still hasn’t gotten to the bottom of a mysterious illness that first surfaced six years ago when a cluster of US government personnel stationed in the Cuban capital city began reporting symptoms consistent with head trauma, including dizziness and extreme headaches.
"Among the complaints lodged by CIA officers over the past year is that the agency task force isn’t doing enough to run down legitimate leads that might expose who or what is causing these strange episodes."
46. An article in the New York Times dated October 14, 2022, entitled "Report Criticizes CIA's Initial Handling of Havana Syndrome Cases," which covers the abysmal response of the Trump administration. Many people with symptoms found it difficult to get prompt medical care during the Trump administration because “some CIA officials were doubtful about #HavanaSyndrome-related illnesses.” “CIA officials declined to discuss details of the report.”
47. "K Blows Top" (pp. 31-33, pub. 2009) by Peter Carlson, a humorous history of Khrushchev's rather strange trip to the US in 1959, and also Nixon's trip to Moscow a few months before. 
Carlson tells a story that parallels very closely the account in recently declassified documents, which revealed that Spaso residents were being bombarded not by microwaves, but ionizing radiation, and reported how Secret Service agents managed to stop the threat, at least for the duration of Nixon's visit. That Carlson was able to pick up this story and retell it in a humorous fashion indicates that it was generally known in Washington's national security community.
Carlson tells a story that parallels very closely the account in recently declassified documents, which revealed that Spaso residents were being bombarded not by microwaves, but ionizing radiation, and reported how Secret Service agents managed to stop the threat, at least for the duration of Nixon's visit. That Carlson was able to pick up this story and retell it in a humorous fashion indicates that it was generally known in Washington's national security community.
48. An article in the London Sunday Times dated January 22, 2023, entitled "Havana Syndrome: sonic attack or all in the mind?" (neither, actually). Does not report anything new, but the eight-episode Apple Podcast it introduces does contain much additional information ("The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome" episode one was released on Apple Podcasts on January 23).
Episode 1. "Jericho." Deals with several Havana Syndrome incidents at the Embassy in Cuba. I am quoted briefly at 26:37 (no context).
Episode 2. "The Immaculate Concussion." Interview with Professor James Giordano, George Washington University, neuro weapons expert, consulting forensic brain scientist, ruled out poisons, drugs as possible causes of Havana Syndrome, acoustic devices possible. Interview with Emb Havana IT manager Doug Ferguson. In 2017. he and his wife Kate begin hearing loud cicada/mechanical sounds, experience nausea, and dizziness, they record sound, pain in ears, medevaced to Miami, diagnosed with traumatic brain injury. Interview with Johanna Tablada, DepDirGen for US of Cuban FonMin. She says Feb 2017 US CDA complains of attack by acoustic weapon. CubanGov surprised, will investigate, invites USG to participate, but only FBI accepts. Dr. Mitchell Valdez Sosa leads Cuban investigation. Cubans concerned incident could lead to new downturn in rels, esp because Trump admin hostile to Cuba, wants to roll back progress under Obama. Name "Havana Syndrome" already implies Cuban origin. Trump says he believes Cuba is responsible. Giordano believes Cubans not involved. Two dozen US personnel evac'd. Fall 2017 US expels 15 Cuban diplomats over Havana Syndrome. Canadian dips also experience Havana Syndrome beginning early 2017. "Allen" learns US dips have same problems, are being evac'd. CanAmb tells "Allen" not to talk about it. Can has good rels with Cuba. Eventually, over a dozen Canadians diagnosed with TBI's. Havana Syndrome begins appearing in other countries, first dozens, then hundreds of cases.
Episode 3. "Speak of the Devil (and he will appear)." Mating call of the Indies short-tailed cricket theory. Jason Group concludes recorded sound is of crickets, but such sounds could not cause TBI's. Jason concludes "it's all in their head." 1972 mass hysteria gas incident. Robert Bartholomew, a specialist in mass psychogenic illness. Says Havana Syndrome is mass hysteria. Matt Cooper, mentalist/hypnotist. Spinning key illusion. Placebo effect. Power of suggestion. JAMA MRI scans of Havana Syndrome victims. Bartholomew colleague Bob Bellow contests findings of brain damage. No scans before to compare. Big difference between brain damage and brain anomalies. Small sample size (20 patients). Cases spread with communication of the danger. Clearly, some cases can be explained as psychogenic.
Episode 4. "The Frey Effect." "The Havana Syndrome story is bigger than Cuba now. Cases are being reported on nearly every continent, so some investigators propose a new, strange theory. We wade into the science to see if Havana Syndrome is just the latest in a long pattern of attacks using microwave energy." Interview with Beatrice Golomb, UC San Diego School of Medicine. Expert in 1991 Gulf War Syndrome. 700,00 US vets and 44,000 British Gulf War vets developed health problems: muscle and joint pain, dizziness, insomnia, nausea, headaches, and exhaustion. The prevailing theory was that it was psychogenic and therefore easily dismissed (just like Havana Syndrome). Vets said that the worst thing about their experience in the Gulf War was the way they were treated on return. Their health problems were dismissed. UTexas researchers proved years later that Gulf War Syndrome was caused by exposure to Sarin nerve gas, released when Saddam's CW facilities were bombed. Interview with Linda Birnbaum, former Dir NIEHS. Brought in by State to do a similar comprehensive study of Havana Syndrome. Forms all-star NAS committee headed by David Relman of Stanford. NAS finds problems with psychogenic/hysteria explanation. Symptoms too severe (retinal bleeding). Other symptoms (balance, headache, nausea) occurred before victims were aware of Havana Syndrome. Later global cases might have psychogenic component, but original cases that were closely held could not have. Golomb struck by fact that "sounds" were localized, victims could step off the "X" and the sound would go away. Also, covering ears did not affect intensity of sound -- indicating not a sonic weapon, definitely not insect sounds. Golomb concludes it is the "Frey effect," or a clicking hissing sound inside the head caused by pulsed radiofrequency energy (such as radar). She does a paper, briefs the NAS committee. Background on 1960s and later research of biologist Allan Frey on how radar can cause people to hear sounds inside their head. Some people heard nothing, some deaf people did. Range was up to thousands of feet from the transmitter. Some experienced headaches. NAS Committee concludes that while microwaves are the prime suspect for Havana Syndrome, NAS cannot definitively prove the case because State delayed two years in convening NAS to study problem and by then data had been polluted by worldwide spread of cases and probable psychogenic factors. Golomb says worst part is genuine victims who suffer permanent disability and pain. June 2018 State Accountability Review (declassified in 2021) concludes that State's response was "characterized by a lack of senior leadership, ineffective communication and systemic disorganization," and that CIA had hampered investigation through "excessive secrecy that contributed to a delayed response." Interview with Frank Figluzzi, retired FBI asst dir for counterintelligence. State, CIA, FBI, DOD not sharing information. Interview with Charles Kupperman, Trump Deputy NatSec Advisor. Three NSC staffers hit with Havana syndrome in London in 2019. Response slow, inept, took two years to get them an MRI. No one in overall charge. CIA in particular was just hoping issue would go away. All agencies dropped the ball.
Episode 5. The Great British Nuke Off. "We head to the UK to build a microwave device that could be the key to the mystery. Later, we take a deep dive into the American military-industrial complex to see what the future of warfare and weaponry looks like. Is Havana Syndrome just the beginning of something much scarier?" Interview with Kyle Napier, quantum optomechanical physicist. Building a directed acoustic or electromagnetic radiation device. Sonic weapon does not fit with Havana Syndrome effects. Pulsed EM radiation (microwaves) does. Tightly located beam in which one hears a sound. Takes weeks to build a crude test weapon from off-the-shelf parts. Hardest thing to build is the magnetron. Looks like Sat TV disc with a cylindrical waveguide in the center. Tested on food items. 120 microwatts achieved in target area at a distance of several meters. Easy to see how governments or companies could achieve far better results. USG is experimenting with directed energy. DOD Col. Wendell Leimbach. Microwave weapon = intermediate force capability (non-lethal). Can incapacitate soldiers without killing them. Active denial technology uses nonlethal 95Ghz radio heat weapon. Operational since 2007. Thor drone defense system. Kills drones with EM energy. Many other EM weapons operational. Leonidas advanced drone killer. James Giordano, George Washington University, neuro weapons expert, says microwave weapons consistent with Havana Syndrome symptoms. Current state of the art is capable of producing such a weapon. China and Russia are able to produce such a weapon. US can do this, but info is classified. USMC patent application for handheld device to deliver microwaves to a human target to produce symptoms of Havana Syndrome. US research on this topic is at least in the tens of millions of dollars.
Episode 6. A Silent Injury. "A CIA officer in Moscow gets sick, and his story fundamentally changes the narrative surrounding “Havana Syndrome.” We hear first-hand accounts of Soviet radiation that go back decades, and learn that the Cold War may have never really ended." Spy Museum, WashDC. "The Thing" on display (1945-52 bugged Spaso House Great Seal). Passive cavity resonator activated by microwave beam from van outside, returns signal that can transmit sounds in Amb's office. Microwaves used as bugging devices could be used to produce Havana Syndrome in similar way. Soviets used microwave radiation in many different ways. Name: Moscow Signal. Interview with Peter Kornbluh, National Security Archive. In 2022 the Archive published documents related to Moscow Signal (see note 41). 1953 microwaves detected at Embassy Moscow. Research on issue did not begin until 1960s. 1962 State sent team to Moscow to measure microwaves beamed at Embassy for 9-10 hours per day. CIA detects "shockingly high" radiation level (turns out sensors were miscalibrated). Pentagon commissions multi-million dollar investigation, Project Pandora. Testing on monkeys to see if radiation dangerous. Whole project largely a farce. CIA and NSA records on purpose of Moscow Signal remain classified. Moscow Signal continued into 1970s and 1980s. Problem got worse. Multiple signals beamed at Embassy were stronger, 15-19 hours per day. Interview with James Schumaker. (12:30-20:45) Served at Embassy Moscow 1977-79. Moscow Signal had been kept secret from Embassy staff until Amb Stoesel briefed in 1976. Everyone would gossip about Moscow Signal but no one knew much for sure. It was just part of life in Moscow, where everyone was being watched, bags rifled, etc. JFS: "I just did my job." Many, however, were upset at being kept in the dark, and on an anecdotal level there were troubling signs. Suspicious cancer deaths of Ambs Thompson, Bohlen, Stoessel at early age. Lawsuits filed by some Embassy personnel. 1978 Johns Hopkins study concluded "no measurable evidence of harm." Lawsuits dropped. But study was flawed. Long term impacts not measured. Data collected was imprecise, many did not work in target area. Schumaker left post, had high white cell count, was told not unusual for Moscow personnel (one in three had elevated blood counts), test every year with hematologist. 1985 diagnosed with CLL stage zero. "I've had some friends who've died from very strange diseases out of Moscow." Worked at other Embassies until retired in 2008. Issue faded for him until 2017, and association of pulsed microwave energy with Havana Syndrome. Growing sense of deja vu. Recognized worry and frustration from Embassy officials, slow and inept government response, dissent in medical community, press, WDC. The bureaucratic impulse to sweep it under the rug. The difference: low-level microwaves in Moscow Signal did not have immediate symptoms, but might cause cancer. Havana Syndrome may come from exposure to higher intensity short duration microwaves, which cause immediate symptoms -- Frey effect, trauma, etc.// end Schumaker interview. Russia is the chief suspect in Havana Syndrome. The elephant in the room. Interview with Marc Polymeropoulos. Former CIA. Advocate for victims of "Anomalous Health Incidents." Was Chief of Clandestine Operations for Europe and Eurasia as Russia became more active against US in mid-2010s. Dec 2017 first official trip to Moscow. Woke up in middle of night in hotel room, dizziness, headache, tinnitus. Symptoms steadily worsened after returning home. Vision worsening. vertigo, nausea. Doctors couldn't figure out what was wrong. Thinks it could be Havana Syndrome, goes to CIA and asks for tests. CIA skeptical, not referred to Water Reed. Used up all normal and medical leave, could barely make it through the day. Retired April 2019. Fed up. Went public. Becomes regular on DC TV circuit. Always asked one question: are the Russians to blame? Marc believes he answer is yes. People affected in CIA are largely working on Russia. Becomes spokesman for victims who don't know what to do. A silent injury. People don't believe us. He wants accountability by the govt, treatment for all victims, and attribution -- this is an act of war and we need to figure out who is doing this. He thinks all roads lead to Russia, starting with the Thing, through Moscow Signal, and now Havana Syndrome. It's no different from other things Russia is doing -- assassinations, war crimes in Ukraine, etc., and it is sowing chaos as people in the USG don't agree on what is happening. Russia loves to seed chaos, and it's working against US national security personnel. But the evidence is still circumstantial. Questions: if they are doing it, how? And why Cuba specifically? The podcast personnel try to get visas for Cuba. Cuba may not just be the scene of the crime, but a victim as well, as the downturn in relations with the US has had serious economic, social and political effects. It takes months, but visas are finally obtained.
Bonus: Fresh Doubts out of Washington, dated March 1, 2023. "While we were crafting our last few episodes, some big news dropped. A new report from the CIA and other intel agencies found that no foreign actor, attack or technology could be behind the Anomalous Health Incidents, aka Havana Syndrome. Co-creators Nicky Woolf and Max Johnston sift through the noise to find out what’s going on." Nothing entirely new. Granular details for differing cases. Message is inherently skeptical. Victims not necessarily surprised, but feel hurt and betrayed. Victims still believe that they were affected by intelligence operations and directed energy weapons. No specifics due to sources and methods. Hope by DNI is that this assessment will give story some closure. Don't think that this will necessarily happen. Our story will not change, because these weapons exist and do cause AHI symptoms. Reality is much more complicated than this assessment lays out. Moscow Signal lawsuits and how they were deait with could be a template. Timing of report re Brazen episodes dropping is interesting.
Episode 7. The Two Exits. March 5, 2023. "Host Nicky Woolf goes to the scenes of the alleged crime in Cuba where we find “the sound” and see the human impact of the Havana Syndrome story. The US Embassy has reopened just as Cubans leave the island en masse." Cuban police, plainclothesmen, deployed around the US Embassy. Tensions "sky high." Two leading explanations for Havana Syndrome: (1) effects of intel op, or (2) psychogenic. Doug Ferguson, recall descript of cricket/mechanical sound on back patio. US housing in Miramar, huge houses, walled compounds, some guarded. Not American suburbia at all. Then podcasters hear the sound. Extremely loud, goes off, then back on. Turns out to be crickets, according to Cubans accompanying podcasters. Definitely not the Frey Effect. But cricket sounds cannot cause symptoms like bleeding retinas or jerky eye movements. (my conclusion: cricket sounds have nothing to do with whatever was happening to Havana victims -- just coincidental in time of occurrence). Meeting with Johanna Tablada, Cuban Foreign Ministry. Her message: no attack took place here. No reason to suspect American victims are not sincere, but every reason to suspect Pompeo, Rubio, Trump admin politicians of lack of integrity, desire to punish Cuba, hurt relations with US. Interview with Raul Rodriguez, Dir Center for US and Hemispheric Studies. Cuban gov saw opportunity to improve rels under Obama, no possible interest in hurting US dips, giving Trump admin excuse to downgrade rels. Havana Syndrome gives Trump admin opportunity to undo progress in rels. Since then, Cuban economy has nosedived and people are trying to get out. US Emb has opened up visa svc for first time since 2017, extremely long lines. US Emb on one side of park, mortuary on the other. Joke is park is named "Park of two exits," because you either get out of Cuba one way (to US) or the other way (in a coffin).
Episode 8. Hammers and Nails. March 13, 2023. "In this final episode, we answer our central question: What happened here? And we try to chart the path forward for “Havana Syndrome” victims."Interview with Doug Ferguson, who recorded Cicada/Cricket tends to conclusion that Havana Syndrome is psychogenic, since Frey effect occurs in head, not through hearing. But other Havana Syndrome sufferers could step in and out of the beam, indicating it was Frey Effect (RF) and not sound. Conceivable that cricket sound had nothing to do with Havana Syndrome, was red herring and would not cause observed brain damage (TBI). Subsequent research indicates psychogenic explanation cannot account for TBI's. Likely that observers came away with the conclusion they were primed to see. When you're a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Physicists see RF. Spies see other spies. Psychologists see psychogenic factors. Neuroweapons experts see neuroweapons. Neurologists see neurological effects. Politicians, esp. Republicans, see political enemies, i.e. Cuba. Trump administration used Havana Syndrome as a pretext to court Florida politicians and beat up on Cuba. Interview with John Bolton, Trump NatSecAdviser Apr 2018-Sep 2019. Bolton famous for extreme hawkishness. He is under sanction from China, Russia, NKorea, Iran. Iran tried to assassinate him. He is accompanied everywhere by massive security. Members of his staff affected by Havana Syndrome in London. Bolton considers foreign agents possibly behind it. Cubans would not be prime suspect, goes against their interests and they don't have the capability. But Cubans were punished anyway because Trump admin, incl Bolton thinks they are already doing enough other things to be punished. Obama-era relaxation of pressure rolled back. Since the most likely suspect was Russia, Bolton didn't feel that he would get support if he brought this up with Trump and told him we thought the Russians were coming after American personnel (!). (Translated: Trump wouldn't do anything against Putin). Bolton couldn't bring the hammer down, and so the bureaucracy dragged its feet. Each agency did something different, uncoordinated. Then, in March 2023 -- the ODNI assessment concluding RF weapon and foreign actors very unlikely. Neuroweapons expert Jim Giordano says Washington Post overstated its ambiguous conclusions which were at the very least curious, and at the most, suspect. Marc Polymeropoulos calls ODNI assessment "verbal diarrhea." There is a big difference beween what was briefed by the DNI and what was actually in the assessment. Messianic zeal of the analysts' conclusions never happens in the intel community. DoD is not on board. White House declines to comment. Woolf: "Doesn't feel particularly conclusive to me." Woolf: Likely that psychogenic factors increase as case reports spread. But Woolf finds pulsed RF as cause of legitimate AHI's credible. Scientifically doable, RF weapons do exist. But is it likely? We know Russia has deployed similar tech against US (Embassy Moscow James Schumaker is quoted). Woolf concludes that it is likely that RF devices have been used in some cases to cause Havana Syndrome. So far, however, there is no provable instance of an RF attack -- UNTIL NOW.
Interview with Ken Jones, retired from FBI 2017. He had a known RF attack. In 2009, Ken was posted to an Embassy overseas (language: Russian, country: former Soviet state). 2011, Ken arrives at Embassy and tries to sign in to computer, but secure network is down. Told by another agency that a neighboring country is seeking to snoop or disrupt secure link. RF attack. Ken begins to suffer AHI symptoms at work: intense headache, dizzy, fatigued, nauseated, ringing in ears. For years after, didn't link RF attack to symptoms. Then he heard about Havana Syndrome, requested medical evaluation. FBI drags its feet. Finally, in 2023, on verge of getting referral by DoD to get checked for AHI. He has been suffering AHI symptoms for past ten years. Ken says other FBI agents have reported similar symptoms. Obviously, since Ken's case predated all information about Havana Syndrome, psychogenic cause is excluded. Important: "In 2011, US intel agencies knew enought even back then to tell Ken explicitly that RF energy was being deployed against the US Embassy by a foreign actor." This pokes another hole in the DNI report, since they only looked at cases after 2016. How many others are out there like Ken? Interview with David Day, owner of NEUCOA Clinic in Virginia Beach, maps and treats brain injuries. Treats military and AHI patients, including Marc Polymeropoulos. Marc: Pharmaceuticals and steroid injections didn't work. NEUCOA's magnetic e-resonance therapy (MeRT) does help. Marc was injured by directed energy. Now he is being healed with directed energy. With reports like the recent ODNI assessment, Marc and others are unlikely to ever know for sure what happened to them. Their claims will continue to be dismissed, just like the victims of Moscow Signal, Gulf War Syndrome. Speaks to the enormous negligence of the agencies responsible for their care. All they can do is carry on. I don't think we've heard the last of them.
This podcast is highly recommended.
49. A multi-part Vice podcast on Havana Syndrome. Part six, "If There's a 'There' There," dated January 23, 2023, discusses Moscow Signal and its possible relationship to Havana Syndrome. Ambassador Matlock 
comments (not particularly informative), Isabel Howe (1988?) comments (Embassy spouse), Kissinger-Dobrynin 1975 call detailed. Cheryl Rofer (Los Alamos) comments on microwave power (she didn't work on such projects, however), Doug Beeson (Air Force physicist) thinks there are microwave weapons. Mark Zaid, NSA lawyer says NSA has admitted microwave weapon exists. Bolton, Kupperman, Pottinger. Chris Miller A/Sec DOD talks about Fall 2020 employee "being on the X" with GRU car nearby. Marc Polymeropoulos Moscow incident. National Academy of Sciences study ID's Russia and pulsed microwave energy. Miller remarks are the only new information. Miller: "The breadcrumbs are there."
50. A Washington Post article entitled "‘Havana syndrome’ not caused by energy weapon or foreign adversary, intelligence review finds" from March 1, 2023.
Comment:
It would be useful to see the actual intelligence assessment and the background information on which it is based. Absent that, I feel constrained to point out an obvious logical flaw in the assessment's conclusions.
Three other things stand out.
First, the assessment appears to say that there are no energy weapons capable of causing Havana Syndrome. And yet, other scientific experts say that such weapons do exist, and there are even reports of a USMC patent pending for a handheld directed energy device.
Second, The Russian angle needs to be further analyzed. The Russians have a long history of directing microwaves at American officials, dating back to 1945, and are very advanced in this technology.
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| Bill Burns |
51. ODNI issued an unclassified version of their Havana Syndrome assessment which is very useful. Updated Assessment of Anomalous Health Incidents, March 1, 2023.
Its conclusions are a bit deceptive, however. The range of unlikely/low confidence to highly unlikely/high confidence assessments works out to a one in four or one in five chance that some AHI's were caused by foreign actors, not a blanket conclusion that foreign actors or weapons were not involved.
In addition, no differentiation is made between early cases, when there was no widespread awareness of Havana Syndrome, and later cases, where psychogenic factors probably played a role.
The fact is that not finding direct evidence of foreign actors or weapons does not mean that none were involved, unless another cause for Havana Syndrome has been discovered. None has been discovered as of now.
I also think it highly suspicious that new cases of Havana Syndrome stopped appearing right after CIA Director Bill Burns warned the Russians in November, 2021. It was as if somebody switched off a light. https://www.odni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Updated_Assessment_of_Anomalous_Health_Incidents.pdf?fbclid=IwAR01288ExmrI6hsKRIR3vmMarAKJ4z9aYbdBXetsMp7tQ9M_2b9BtdkDlPY
52. AFSA Statement on ODNI Anomalous Health Incident Assessment, dated March 1, 2023. In part, "AFSA does not possess the qualifications to refute or agree with the report’s findings, and remains solely concerned about the welfare of its members. We further note that this assessment does nothing to affect the commitment of the State Department and all impacted government agencies to ensure that their employees receive the medical treatment they need."
53. A Politico article entitled "The 'Havana Syndrome' Report Hasn't Convinced Everyone," dated March 1, 2023. "Mark S. Zaid, an attorney who represents over two dozen intelligence and government officials who have been afflicted with symptoms that they describe as lining up with the pattern of “Havana Syndrome,” is not at all convinced that the ODNI report proves the case that there is no foreign role. He concludes that this is not the final word, it "is just one page in the book."
54. A Wall Street Journal article from March 1, 2023, entitled "Havana Syndrome Unlikely Caused by Foreign Adversary or Weapon, U.S. Report Says."
My Comment: With regard to the March 1 ODNI assessment, it’s hard to tell without having full access to the classified report just what it really says, but the unclassified summary gives us some clues.
My principal concern is that the conclusions of the new report are a bit deceptive. When talking about whether a foreign actor is involved in Havana Syndrome, the agencies concerned expressed a range of opinions from no opinion to very unlikely, with confidence ranging from high to low. If you do the math, based on the chart in the summary it would appear that the median conclusion among agencies would be that there is a one in four or one in five chance that some Anomalous Health Incidents were caused by foreign actors. It is not a blanket conclusion that foreign actors or weapons were not involved.
There are many other problems with the assessment, but three stand out: (1) ODNI says neither Russia nor China has directed energy weapons that might cause Havana Syndrome, and yet Putin himself has bragged about such weapons. (2) The Russians have a long history of directing microwaves at American officials (Moscow Signal), dating back to 1945, and are very advanced in this technology. (3) reports of new cases of Havana Syndrome stopped appearing right after CIA Director Bill Burns warned the Russians in November 2021 that there would be “serious consequences” if they were behind it. It was as if somebody had switched off a light. This seems a bit suspicious and needs to be explained.
55. A Hill article entitled "Rubio Rejects Intelligence Finding that 'Havana Syndrome' not Linked to Foreign Adversary", dated March 2, 2023.
56. A Washington Post article dated March 2, 2023, entitled "Is 'Havana Syndrome' Settled Now? The White House Won't Say."
My Comment: With regard to the March 1 ODNI assessment, it’s hard to tell without having full access to the classified report just what it really says, but the unclassified summary raises some questions.
My principal concern is that the reported conclusions of the new report are a bit deceptive. When talking about whether a foreign actor is involved in Havana Syndrome, the agencies concerned expressed a range of opinions from no opinion to very unlikely, with confidence ranging from high to low. If you do the math, based on the chart in the summary it would appear that the median conclusion among agencies would be that there is a one in four to one in five chance that some Anomalous Health Incidents were caused by foreign actors. I think the summary oversimplifies this into a blanket conclusion that foreign actors or weapons were not involved.
We are also not told what possible explanations there are for the very real symptoms of many Havana Syndrome victims, although we do know that many previous explanations (100% psychogenic, the ridiculous crickets theory, poison, acoustic weapons) have all been ruled out. The big question: is there an explanation for legitimate Havana Syndrome symptoms that does not involve directed energy weapons? If so, the IC has not told us what it is.
There are many other problems with the assessment, but three stand out: (1) ODNI says neither Russia nor China has directed energy weapons that might cause Havana Syndrome, and yet Putin himself has bragged about such weapons. (2) The Russians have a long history of directing microwaves at American officials (Moscow Signal), dating back to 1945, and are very advanced in this technology. (3) reports of new cases of Havana Syndrome stopped appearing right after CIA Director Bill Burns warned the Russians in November 2021 that there would be “serious consequences” if they were behind it. It was as if somebody had switched off a light. This seems a bit suspicious and needs to be explained.
Marc Polymeropoulos said on Morning Joe today that now it would be up to Congress to carry on the investigation -- implying, accurately, I think, that the Interagency Community is tired of dealing with the subject. So is the White House. An issue like this is readymade for politicians to start accusing the other side of not being patriotic enough.
My own feeling is that the investigation will continue in one form or another until there is a real breakthrough. When that will be, however, no one can tell.
57. A Miami Herald Editorial, dated March 3, 2023, entitled "It's Hard to Believe No One Is Responsible for Hurting American Diplomats."
58. An article in Scientific American dated March 6, 2023, entitled "How 'Anomalous Health Incidents' in Cuba Sidelined Science," by Mitchell J. Valdes-Sosa, Director of the Cuban Center for Neuroscience. Briefly presents the Cuban government's view, which is that there is no such thing as Havana Syndrome. Timed rather suspiciously to follow closely the ODNI assessment.
59. A Politico article dated March 6, 2023, entitled "Pentagon still probing if a weapon caused ‘Havana Syndrome,’ even after spy agencies found no smoking gun." It appears that the Defense Department (and at least one other agency) does not accept the conclusions of the ODNI assessment of Havana Syndrome, and is continuing its own research into the issue. Speaking personally, I think the ODNI report overstated its conclusions and has left the most recent assessment open to being discredited.
60. A Julia Ioffe interview of Bellingcat's Christo Grozev in Puck, dated March 7, 2023, entitled "Surviving Putin." Here is the portion of the interview related to Havana Syndrome:
The C.I.A. and various American intelligence agencies put out a report concluding that they don’t think the Havana syndrome—or Anomalous Health Incidents—is the work of a foreign adversary or of a weapon. I know you’ve done some work on this. What do you think of the report?
I’m still agnostic about it. We’ve been working on this for over a year now, but the report itself does not look convincing to me, and I can see motivation where the Agency would be incentivized to say this. To me, this is not a closed chapter and we continue working on this.
What do you think those motivations could be?
Starting from the fact that no security and intelligence agency would want to admit that another security agency has outsmarted it and has unknown technology, ending with the fact that you don’t want to discourage new recruits or new applicants from joining your service by recognizing there’s such a threat.
Do you think the threat is actually real?
As I said, I’m agnostic, but it’s hard to discard something that has happened to so many people, to adults, children, and animals. Especially the latter two categories have a hard time faking it.
61. A Politico article dated March 10, 2023, entitled "The Time Russians Really Did Target Americans with Microwaves," by Casey Michel. "There’s a reason so many diplomats and CIA operatives think Havana Syndrome is real. It’s because it’s happened before — and the Kremlin got away with it." Features documents recently published by National Security Archives and an interview with James Schumaker (Embassy Moscow 1977-79).
62. A Politico article dated March 9, 2023, entitled "Pentagon is funding experiments on animals to recreate 'Havana Syndrome'", by Lara Seligman. "The Defense Department is funding experiments on animals to determine if radio frequency waves could be the source of the mysterious ailment referred to as “Havana Syndrome” that has afflicted hundreds of U.S. government personnel in recent years, according to public documents and three people familiar with the effort." Here is the DoD health site on Havana Syndrome.
63. A Guardian article, dated March 13, 2023, entitled "John Bolton Chose Not to Brief Trump on Havana Syndrome Suspicion."
"Donald Trump’s third national security adviser, John Bolton, did not brief the president on suspicions Russia might be behind mysterious “Havana syndrome” attacks on US diplomats because he did not think Trump would support him.
“Since our concern was that one of the perpetrators – maybe the perpetrator – was Russia,” Bolton said, “we didn’t feel we would get support from President Trump if we said, ‘We think the Russians are coming after American personnel.’”
"Bolton makes the startling admission in an interview for an episode of a podcast, The Sound: Mystery of Havana Syndrome, hosted by the former Guardian journalist Nicky Woolf and released on Monday."
Note: here is a link for part 8 of the podcast, the final episode of the series. The entire series is worth a listen.
64. Cipher Brief podcast dated March 10, 2023. Interview with Marc Polymeropoulos. "What I Know about Havana Syndrome." ODNI assessment uses questionable methodology. DoD has low confidence in the report. No peer review. Neither Marc nor others he knows were interviewed by the assessment team. Bill Burns deserves a lot of credit for accountability. He has no control over the assessment team analysts. Tells his story. Without getting into details, he knows many, many officers who were "tip of the spear" but are now incapacitated. Failure to find evidence does not mean nothing happened, especially in "denied areas." Institutional bias (recruiting, assignments) to make this go away. Antagonism between Agency Task Force and victims of Havana Syndrome. Agency initially treated victims very badly. Core group of two dozen unexplained TBI cases is unexplained. Agency did callout for any "headache" cases, so naturally got a lot of reports that were not Havana Syndrome. Thank goodness DOD and Walter Reed are not in agreement with ODNI. We will solve this mystery in the open source world. Bellingcat solved Skripal, could do the same with Havana Syndrome because they use more effective techniques. CIA is shutting down its investigative unit and investigation is transferred to DOD. Marc is getting compensation for life due to Havana Syndrome. Marc thinks the Russians are behind Havana Syndrome. Likely it's directed energy. Past Russian history of using directed energy. Also, some Russian intel travel patterns are suspicious. ODNI should have said no conclusive evidence yet, we should keep going -- not that there is no evidence so investigation is closed. What if we did solve Havana Syndrome? It would be an act of war, would have to be robust response. NSC is very good. CIA bad (with exception of Bill Burns, who tore down denialist CIA office of medical services). State was dismissive, now leading on compensation. DoD is continuing the investigation. Government dysfunction. Washington Post got the ODNI story first, were captured by denialist sources, wrote bad headline. Congressional oversight will review ODNI report. We may need a CI breakthrough, Russian intelligence defector, to get to the bottom of this mystery.
64A. An article in Politico from March 26, 2023 entitled "Pentagon still probing what caused ‘Havana Syndrome,’ even after spy agencies found no smoking gun." "The news that the Pentagon is continuing to study the issue comes after most intelligence agencies concluded in a comprehensive investigation led by the ODNI released Wednesday that it is “very unlikely” a foreign adversary using a weapon was responsible for the incidents. But the seven agencies that participated had varying levels of confidence in the final determination.
"Two of the agencies, which intelligence officials would not name [I'm guessing NSA and DIA], had low confidence in the assessment, because they still believe “radiofrequency (RF) energy is a plausible cause,” according to a statement from Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
"A wide body of research indicates a device that harnesses energy could be responsible for the Havana Syndrome incidents. A 2020 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report commissioned by the State Department to look into the initial cluster of incidents in Havana found that the symptoms were consistent with the effects of “directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy.” A panel of outside experts also found that this was “the most plausible mechanism” to explain the illness."
65. An article in Gizmodo from March 28 entitled "Newly-Declassified Report Contradicts Officials, Suggests Havana Syndrome Might Be Caused by Directed Energy. A recently declassified version of an Intelligence Community report from September 2022 appears to contradict the conclusions of the "updated" unclassified version of the IC report published six months later in March 2023, and points to directed energy as the probable cause of Havana Syndrome. The March 2023 report is an update of an earlier report in January 2022, and appears to skip over the September 2022 classified report. It's all very confusing. This looks suspicious, to say the least.
66. An article in the Miami Herald from April 26, 2023 entitled "'Knife in the Back.' Havana Syndrome victims dispute report dismissing their cases."
This is a good article. It also has information that is new to me, noting that the March 2023 Intelligence Community's report on Havana Syndrome relied heavily on a November 7, 2021 JASON report that employed circular reasoning to deny that Havana Syndrome might be caused by directed energy attacks [see item 18a].
While couched in scientific terms, I believe that the conclusions of the report are overdrawn. Havana Syndrome victims have good reason to believe that the true causes of their condition are being papered over for geopolitical reasons, as well as concerns about being able to staff overseas posts, even though they are, at least, getting the treatment they need. A CIA doctor also notes that an additional possible reason the report seeks to minimize the serious political and medical issues raised by Havana Syndrome is the desire of certain agencies to dilute the results, "as they were involved in the premature decisions to ignore the medical complaints."
It should be noted that there was an earlier JASON report written in 2018 that concluded cricket sounds probably caused Havana Syndrome. That conclusion was, of course, ludicrous. [See item 15]
Quotes from the article:
“This is a very dangerous report that represents the worst type of science possible,” a scientist familiar with the Havana Syndrome cases told the Herald. He asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the subject. “They were very indiscriminate in who they included as a possible victim. When you include individuals who may or may not have been affected, you don’t get an accurate view of those who were truly affected.”
"The scientist pointed out that the data was sometimes collected years after the person was affected. “The report sounds authoritative, which is unwise because the science is very suspect, if not totally wrong,” the scientist said. “And in some ways, it disenfranchises or discounts the truly affected individuals who are truly suffering. I think it was done entirely with political motivation.”
"The March intelligence assessment relies heavily on a 2021 report written by JASON [JFS note: see item 18a], a group of elite scientists that advises the U.S. government, to cast doubt on the original clinical findings by two independent teams of medical experts at the University of Miami and the University of Pennsylvania. Those teams were asked by the CIA and the U.S. State Department to test and treat American diplomats, CIA officials and family members stationed in Havana.
"The Miami team found that some victims had a unique pattern of balance and cognitive dysfunctions linked to abnormalities in the inner ear. The Pennsylvania team concluded that about two dozen Americans suffered from mild traumatic brain injury, similar to a concussion, even though none had suffered a blow to the head.
"In a later study in 2019, the UPenn doctors found the group had specific changes in their brains. Both teams strongly opposed theories that the injuries were psychosomatic, as an earlier FBI report and the Cuban government had suggested.
"Two other teams of experts — one from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine that published its findings in 2020, as well as a panel convened by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA in 2021 to investigate potential causes — also agreed with the early medical findings that the symptoms associated with Havana Syndrome pointed towards a new medical disorder.
"But the authors of the March intelligence assessment paraphrased language from the JASON report to claim that while the initial studies concluded that the health incidents represented “a novel medical syndrome or consistent pattern of injuries similar to traumatic brain injury, a combination of medical and academic critiques pointed to methodological limitations in that work.”
"The CIA doctor who was affected in the Havana Capri Hotel incident said he believes that some of the participating intelligence agencies behind the March assessment “had an interest in diluting the results, as they were involved in the premature decisions to ignore the medical complaints. “The impact of the relentless impugning of the Havana group’s integrity and motivation has had serious impacts on their well-being,” he added, noting the group had passed extensive medical and psychological tests."
67. Foreign Service Journal, May 2023, page 16. "Havana Syndrome Cause Remains a Mystery." Reports on controversial March 1, 2023 IC report on Havana Syndrome [see note 51], Politico interview of James Schumaker on Moscow Microwaves and Havana Syndrome [see note 61], and Guardian Journalist Nicky Woolf podcast on Havana Syndrome, including interviews with Schumaker and retired CIA Officer Mark Polymeropoulos in part 6 [A Silent Injury] [see note 48].
68. The Intelligencer, Journal of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers, Vol. 28, Winter-Spring 2023, "The Mysteries and Realities of the Havana Syndrome: It's the Russians," by Lewis Regenstein. The most complete summary of Moscow Microwave/Havana Syndrome cases in print, beginning with Moscow Microwaves in 1953 and continuing through suspicious incidents after the fall of the Soviet Union, and then the outbreak of Havana Syndrome cases in 2016 until the present day. Available for members only.
69. A May 19, 2023 story published in "The War Zone," entitled "THOR Microwave Anti-Drone System Downs Swarms in Test." "It's also worth noting that while countering drones [is] the main objective at this time, HPM systems can also potentially be used against low-flying cruise missiles and even land/surface targets. (see item 3A)"
70. As an experiment, I asked ChatGPT to write a short history of the relationship between Moscow Signal and Havana Syndrome. For many, ChatGPT is considered scarcely better than a magic eight ball, while others darkly fear it is the next SkyNet. In fact, the short history ChatGPT delivered was pretty good -- if bland.
The complete annotated document is available on New Bing at https://sl.bing.net/igQE43BuKYK
Here is ChatGPT's answer:
Here is a short history of the relationship between Moscow
Signal and Havana Syndrome:
- The US government **concealed** the existence of the beam
from the public and most of the embassy staff for a decade, until it was
exposed by a journalist in 1976¹²⁵. Some embassy employees reported **health
problems** such as headaches, fatigue, irritability, and memory loss, which
they attributed to the microwave exposure¹²⁵.
- The US government conducted a **medical study** of the
embassy staff, known as **Project Pandora**, which found no conclusive evidence
of adverse health effects from the beam, but also acknowledged that there were
**uncertainties** and **gaps** in the scientific knowledge of microwave effects
on humans¹²⁵. The US government also negotiated with the Soviet government to
**lower** the intensity of the beam, which eventually stopped in 1976¹²⁵.
- The **Havana Syndrome** is the name given to a mysterious
illness that has affected more than 200 US government employees and their
families at overseas embassies, especially in Havana, Cuba, since 2016²³. The
symptoms include **cognitive and neurological impairments**, such as migraines,
dizziness, memory loss, brain fog, and hearing loss, often accompanied by a
**peculiar sound** or a sensation of heat or pressure²³.
- The cause of the Havana Syndrome is still **unknown**, but
some experts have suggested that it could be a result of a **directed energy
attack** using microwaves or other forms of electromagnetic radiation²³. Some
have also drawn parallels with the Moscow Signal as a possible historical
precedent or inspiration for such an attack¹²³.
- The US government has been investigating the Havana
Syndrome with various agencies and committees, but has not reached a definitive
conclusion or identified a responsible party²³. The US government has also
passed legislation to provide **medical and financial support** to the victims
of the Havana Syndrome, and to enhance the **security and protection** of US
personnel abroad²³.
I hope this helps.😊
Source: Conversation with Bing, 5/30/2023
(1) The Moscow Signals Declassified - National Security
Archive. https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/briefing-book/intelligence-russia-programs/2022-09-15/moscow-signals-declassified-microwave.
(2) Before Havana Syndrome, There Was Moscow Signal. https://afsa.org/havana-syndrome-there-was-moscow-signal.
********************************
And, because I know you want to ask it, here is ChatGPT's answer to the question: "Are the Russians Responsible for Havana Syndrome?" (complete answer available at https://sl.bing.net/fBfBVpjaRAy )
Havana Syndrome is a cluster of idiopathic symptoms experienced mostly abroad by U.S. government officials and military personnel. The symptoms range in severity from pain and ringing in the ears to cognitive dysfunction and were first reported in 2016 by U.S. and Canadian embassy staff in Havana, Cuba1. Since then, more cases have been reported in other countries, such as China, India, Vietnam, Austria and the U.S.123.
71. A June 13, 2023 article published in Popular Mechanics entitled, "What is Havana Syndrome and Could It Really Have Sickened U.S. Diplomats?" Also notes the Frey effect and Soviet use of microwaves against US Embassy Moscow.
It would seem that Popular Mechanics isn't exactly buying the story put out by intelligence community analysts on Havana Syndrome.
Lots of people aren't.
"The Soviet Union was known to have conducted experiments in using RF energy as a weapon, both as strategic weapons and against diplomatic personnel assigned to the U.S. embassy in Moscow in the 1970s. Individuals assigned to the agency did not report any immediate health effects but many, according to NPR, came down with serious health issues years later.
"The Takeaway
"Reports of Havana syndrome slowed as it gained publicity, with the latest reported incidents happening in Geneva and Paris in 2021. Is Havana syndrome an attack created by a man-made device, a natural phenomenon, or a case of mass hysteria? If it is an attack, we have a possible explanation for how the machine works, a precedent, and a political motive.
"Whatever is going on, it is complex enough that U.S. intelligence agencies are unable to determine the cause—even as it happens to their own people."
72. The Courthouse News Service reported on June 28, 2023, that: "A federal court in Maryland granted the National Security Agency’s motion for summary judgment on a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit brought by a former federal agent who developed a rare form of Parkinson’s disease 10 years after he traveled to “a hostile foreign country” in 1996. The NSA denies having evidence that he was exposed to some wave-based weapon that could’ve damaged his nervous system, and has properly classified the requested information on national security grounds."
The court appears to have disregarded NSA's 2014 admission that the "hostile country" had a microwave weapon that might affect a person's health. The decision seems to give weight only to the fact that there is no evidence the "hostile country" used such a weapon on Mr. Beck. I'll be interested to see the legal fallout from this.
Here is the FOIA Case Detail: https://foiaproject.org/case_detail/?title=on&style=foia&case_id=34347
73. A July 6, 2023 Washington Times article entitled "China's Military is Leading the World in Brain 'Neurostrike' Weapons", by Bill Gertz. According to the report that is summarized in the article, China is developing a microwave-powered neuroweapon that creates effects very similar to Havana Syndrome. Gertz has a track record of alarmist reporting, but while his conclusions are often exaggerated and ideologically tinged, they are usually based on a foundation of fact, in this case, a report, which on first reading appears speculative.
74. An August 8, 2023 Explainer by First Post entitled "Centre to Investigate Havana Syndrome: What's the Mysterious Illness Plaguing U.S. Officials Since 2016?" focusing on the September 2021 case of a CIA officer traveling with Director Burns in India.
75. An August 10, 2023, obituary entitled "Paul Brodeur, Journalist Who Exposed Asbestos Hazards, Dies at 92." In December 1976, Brodeur published a pair of articles in the New Yorker on the dangers of microwaves that included a long discussion of U.S. and Russian military research into microwaves and also Moscow Signal. The complete New Yorker article is available in this obituary. The Moscow Signal portion begins on page 90. Neither the obituary nor the Brodeur article are behind a paywall.
76. A WNYC podcast, “The
Mystery of Havana Syndrome,” broadcast on August 25, 2023. Dr. Robert
Bartholomew, the author of a book
denying that Havana Syndrome is anything more than a psychogenic illness (his
specialty), is interviewed. Bartholomew, however, has consistently disregarded
all evidence indicating other possible explanations, and has never examined any
Havana Syndrome patients. His views are therefore not credible.
77. An October 8, 2023 article in Microwave News, entitled "Paul Brodeur, the Initial Microwave Pioneer: Setting the Record Straight." Makes a persuasive case that the dangers of microwaves, particularly with regard to leukemia, continue to be disregarded and covered up by various governmental and business entities.
78. An October 16, 2023 article in the Kyiv Post entitled, "Ukraine Eyes Israel's New 'Iron Beam' Missile Defense -- Here's What It Can Do."
79. A November 19, 2023 article in the New York Times entitled, "The Invisible War in Ukraine Being Fought over Radio Waves." Focuses on electromagnetic radiation as a means of eliminating drones. Chinese analysis has indicated that Russian technology in this area is superior to that of the U.S.
80. A February 12, 2024 article in the New York Times entitled "Congress to Examine U.S. Spy Agencies' Work on Havana Syndrome." "The House committee announced the investigation in a letter sent to Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, on Thursday. In the letter, Representative Rick Crawford, Republican of Arkansas, said the inquiry would examine “allegations of improper suppression” of information related to the incidents between intelligence agencies and between the executive branch and Congress." Comment: While an investigation is needed, I doubt this one will be even-handed. It looks like it might be just another fishing expedition designed to score political points against the Biden administration. Hope I'm wrong. See also: "Lawmakers Question How Havana Syndrome is Affecting DOD."
80A. A March 15, 2024 opinion piece in Scientific American entitled " A ‘Havana Syndrome’ Investigation in Congress Rests on Politics, Not Science. I include the article for completeness, not for objectivity. Bartholomew has long been a denialist on Havana Syndrome and trapped himself years ago into the position of supporting the now-discredited theory that cricket sounds were the source of a psychogenic effect on victims, who believed they were suffering from Havana Syndrome out of misplaced hysteria. He may be right about the political orientation of the House committee, but other than that, he lacks objectivity on the subject of Havana Syndrome.
81. A March 18, 2024 article in the Washington Post entitled "NIH probe of ‘Havana syndrome’ finds no sign of brain injuries."
My comment: The Interagency Community clearly has an interest in downplaying Havana Syndrome, but there is too much evidence to the contrary, and this evidence cannot be dismissed with one NIH study that in effect found nothing. In Mark Zaid's words, "The absence of evidence is not evidence."
The tendency of Government agencies to deny the existence of unexplained medical phenomena, or to conclude that such phenomena are simply the result of "mass hysteria" is well documented. Look at how the USG treated the victims of Agent Orange, Moscow Microwaves, Gulf War Syndrome, Iraq Burn Pit victims, etc. Havana Syndrome could be another example of this tendency, and we need to continue digging until we have definitive answers to the questions that are still out there.
82. A March 18, 2024 article in the New York Times entitled, "New Studies Find No Evidence of Brain Injury in Havana Syndrome Cases." The article quotes the authors of previous studies saying that the current NIH study is flawed.
83. A March 19, 2024 article in the Washington Examiner by Tom Rogan entitled, "As the Havana Syndrome scandal rumbles on, Nikolai Patrushev must be laughing." The article adopts an extremely skeptical view toward the NIH study and interagency efforts on Havana Syndrome. Also mentions the article in Armeyskiy Sbornik in which the Russians admit to having weapons capable of causing symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome.
84. A March 18, 2024 editorial published in JAMA by Dr. David Relman entitled, "Neurological Illness and National Security --Lessons to Be Learned." In 2019-2020, Dr. Relman headed a distinguished team of scientists at the NAS studying Havana Syndrome. Their report was published in 2022, entitled "An Assessment of Illness in U.S. Government Employees and their Families at Overseas Embassies."
In this JAMA editorial, Dr. Relman takes issue with many of the "findings" of the Interagency Community concerning Havana Syndrome. In particular, he notes that:
"In 2021, the director of national intelligence and the deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency established a panel of experts from outside and within US government to examine possible mechanisms for AHIs. The experts had access to more than 1000 classified documents and interviewed dozens of affected individuals. The panel, on which I served as a co-chair, found that known medical and environmental conditions, including psychosocial factors, could not explain some cases with abrupt onset and locality, and concluded that various forms of pulsed radiofrequency energy, as well as focused ultrasound in close-access scenarios, were plausible explanations for these cases."
In other words, microwave radiation is a plausible cause of Havana Syndrome.
85. A March 20, 2024 article in the Miami Herald by NORA GÁMEZ TORRES entitled, "A Study Found No Brain Injuries Linked to Havana Syndrome. Participants Question the Research." Specifically, a legal complaint alleges that the study is flawed because "NIH officials and researchers involved in the study maintained close contact with the CIA and were pressured to “ensure the studies ‘found’ what was asked of them.” The email says that doctors involved in the study made private remarks to patients that they were pressured or were afraid to report a traumatic brain injury diagnosis accurately, and that patients were told verbally of findings that were not later reported in writing in their medical records. “As the nature and scope of the cooperation between CIA and NIH throughout this process has come to light, participants have dropped from the program, undermining the integrity of any longitudinal study findings and impeding the duty of both to put the welfare of Agency personnel first.”
In other words, it appears that the CIA is trying to dictate conclusions about Havana Syndrome, rather than following the science.86. A March 29, 2024 SpyTalk Substack by Jeff Stein entitled "Report: "Adversary" Responsible for Havana Syndrome Attacks," and subtitled "60 Minutes says it has new evidence of foreign adversary attacks on US officials, but it can't name who or why."
We will have to wait until we see the Sixty Minutes episode, but inevitably it will raise intriguing questions that the Intelligence Community is doing its best to bury. CBS' reticence to name names may reflect the fact that Sixty Minutes has been burned in the past by irresponsible journalism (Lara Logan's sensationalist and flawed report on Benghazi), so one would think that whatever they do report will have been checked, double-checked and triple-checked before it goes on air. I await the Sixty Minutes report with interest.
Here is the CBS teaser for the Havana Syndrome story. See note 33 for the 2022 "Targeting Americans" episode on Sixty Minutes. Here is the earlier 2022 broadcast, updated several months later. You need to be a Paramount+ subscriber to view it.
87. Mission Implausible, Episode Nine, March 30, 2024. Subject: Havana Syndrome, part one. Moderator: John Sipher. Sipher and his colleagues (mostly former CIA) are very suspicious of the story on Havana Syndrome put out by the Intelligence Community, but appear to have no special knowledge that goes beyond what is available to the general public. They believe Havana Syndrome is real, and that Moscow Microwaves may be linked. John Lee Anderson also explains why Cuba may not be so innocent in this story, since the Cuban intelligence services were spooked by the opening to Cuba by the Obama Administration and might have wanted to avail themselves of exotic surveillance tools to keep ahead of the increased influx of Westerners. This would include whatever new devices the Russians might be working on. The commenters also look to the Russian track record with Moscow Microwaves and conclude that even if caught the Russians would keep on doing what they were doing and lie about it. This would have been particularly easy for them to do during the Trump administration, since according to John Bolton, the President would not have believed or been inclined to respond to reports of Russian provocations. They also note that it is interesting that reports of Havana Syndrome "attacks" have ceased since the Ukraine invasion (see note 22 for a possible explanation). They say that the Pentagon and Hill are both looking into this matter further (see notes 64A and 80). Here is the transcript.
Here is part two, released on April 3, 2024. Here is the transcript. Features Marc Polymeropoulos. 45 minutes in length. Strong circumstantial evidence that American personnel have been the victims of a Russian attack. Why is the USG not acknowledging this? Faye Flam Bloomberg Science columnist (not well informed on latest developments): Havana Syndrome is real, but probably has large psychosomatic component. Jerry O'Shea: We already know the Russians have bathed our Embassy in Microwaves. Until Bill Burns, CIA resisted dealing with reports of Havana Syndrome. CIA then sent out worldwide query, got 1500+ possible cases, winnowed down to a couple of dozen who all were in CIA, had similar symptoms, worked in Russian specialty areas. JASON Group skeptical that microwaves could cause Havana Syndrome, but did not have all information and no access to victims. In the past, JASON group has been skeptical about similar Russian capabilities and been proven wrong. Attacks may not be directed at people, but devices. Frey effect discussed. Next Guest: Marc Polymeropoulos. Details his experiences (see Insider article). Trashes the "mass hysteria" theory. Says previous administration (Trump) messed up on Havana Syndrome and also on the bounties in Afghanistan issue (in latter case, intelligence is conclusive that Russians were guilty). Russians have never been held accountable. White House didn't want to hear anything about Russians targeting Americans. Doesn't get into specifics or IG report, but says he has briefed Congressional committees, obvious he thinks CIA handled Havana Syndrome very badly, and his case is just one of many. In his case, CIA was so obstructionist he finally had to go public with an article by Julia Ioffe. Very embarrassing to the Agency. CIA also screwed up by sending out worldwide inquiry on Havana Syndrome symptoms. Just caused people to report in who didn't have the Syndrome and obscured the few dozen who did. Many colleagues and one junior doctor stood by Marc, but Senior doctors and officials behaved very badly, just got in the way. Jake Sullivan and Bill Burns met with CIA doctors, told them their obstructionism was very detrimental to Marc's care. Marc knows many colleagues who have suffered worse than he has. CIA as an institution didn't want to acknowledge or deal with the problem under Trump. If Havana Syndrome is due to a hostile foreign actor, it's an act of war. There are a couple of dozen cases that are TBI's without prior medical history, cannot be explained satisfactorily. Several dozen are getting compensation from Havana Act, although it isn't enough. In light of recent revelations about Havana Syndrome, "everything's shifted wildly." CIA still briefing that everyone had pre-existing conditions and that Marc and others' cases are not real even though they are getting compensation. "It's bullshit." Moderator notes that CIA has been burned several times by jumping to conclusions (WMD, Iraq War), and so now are gun-shy. This case is even worse, because they know if they make an analytic judgment, the administration will be forced to act. Marc says he believes Russians may have been using some device for espionage purposes, realized it also hurt people, and then started using it for that purpose. Moderator notes that Donald Trump's attitude toward Vladimir Putin may have also affected CIA's willingness to draw conclusions. Marc agrees, but says that under Trump the holdup was more a matter of gross incompetence. Under Biden, the analysts are freer to do assessments, and Biden takes the matter seriously. Moderator: Havana Syndrome is not a conspiracy theory, it is a mystery for which we do not yet have all the answers. Who is going to accept an assignment to Moscow, not knowing the answers to the questions posed by Havana Syndrome? Perhaps it is just too dangerous. For whoever is doing this, maybe creating chaos and a feeling of danger is the objective. Coupled with this is a feeling that there are no longer any rules. CIA never uses journalist for cover, for example, and both sides know this, and yet Russia is treating journalists very differently now than they did before, as if they were all spies without immunity. Bottom line: it's "credible to likely" that the Russians are up to something, but we won't know for sure until "one fine day" we get the right defector. "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Just because we can't pin Havana Syndrome for sure on one actor doesn't mean that no one is guilty. The most likely conclusion is that some people (like Marc) were the victims of a hostile attack. We know for sure the Russians are already involved in assassinations and sabotage. It is likely that they are also causing Havana Syndrome. Vladimir Putin has changed the rules of the game.
88. An article published March 31, 2024 by The Insider, written by Roman Dobrokhotov, Christo Grozev, and Michael Weiss entitled "Unraveling Havana Syndrome: New evidence links the GRU's assassination Unit 29155 to mysterious attacks on Americans, at home and abroad."
OK, folks. The lid is officially blown off.
"A yearlong investigation by The Insider, in collaboration with 60 Minutes and Der Spiegel, has uncovered evidence suggesting that unexplained anomalous health incidents, also known as Havana Syndrome, may have their origin in the use of directed energy weapons wielded by members of Russian GRU Unit 29155. Members of the Kremlin’s infamous military intelligence sabotage squad have been placed at the scene of suspected attacks on overseas U.S. government personnel and their family members, leading victims to question what Washington knows about the origins of Havana Syndrome, and what an appropriate Western response might entail." https://theins.press/en/politics/270425
89. A damning award for the folks at GRU unit 29155.
90. A CBS Sixty Minutes segment entitled "Targeting Americans," dated March 31, 2024, updates the segment from two years ago (see notes 33, 86, and 88). Too many startling revelations to summarize. Take a look at the videos and the referenced notes.
91. Sixty Minutes Overtime, March 31, 2024. Possible Russian role in attacks on American officials in Vietnam.
"Five months before Harris's visit to Hanoi, an email was sent to the Security Council of Russia, the body of top Russian officials who head the country's defense and security agencies.
"According to Grozev, a document within the email shows that Russian intelligence lobbied for and received permission from President Vladimir Putin to provide exclusive technology to Vietnamese security services. Among the list of recommended technologies to be shared were "LRAD acoustic emitters" and "short-wave equipment for scanning the human body.
"LRAD, which stands for "long-range acoustic device," is a military-grade sonic weapon that discharges a targeted beam of sound at extremely high volume. An LRAD device was used to thwart a pirate attack on a cruise ship in 2005, and since then, the U.S. military has used the devices to send warnings in the field, such as cautioning people away from an Army base perimeter. But when left on at its highest volume, some LRAD systems can produce a sound pressure level of 162 decibels. The human pain threshold is about 130 decibelBased on his research, Grozev said he suspects Russia is sending weapons technology like this, which may be used in Havana Syndrome attacks, to foreign governments.
"I believe that Russia is assisting other governments with some operations that those governments may want to do on their own, and in this way establishing loyalty from these governments for future operations that Russia might need on their territory," Grozev told 60 Minutes.
"Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Greg Edgreen ran an investigation for the Defense Intelligence Agency into anomalous health incidents, which have been referred to as Havana Syndrome attacks because they were first reported by American officials based in the U.S. embassy in Cuba in 2016. He told 60 Minutes he also believes Russians were involved in the 2021 attack in Vietnam.
"They saw us getting closer and closer to Cuba, and they wanted to stop it…" Edgreen said. "Then they tried to follow up and do the same thing with Vietnam, another long-term strategic ally to Hanoi, by disrupting Vice President Kamala Harris' trip to Vietnam."
"While running the military investigation into anomalous health incidents, Edgreen said the Pentagon supported his investigation into whether Russia was behind the attacks. But the Trump and Biden administrations set the bar for proof impossibly high, he said.
"Grozev believes the U.S. government would require a very high threshold of certainty before they could acknowledge the Kremlin's role — because of what will happen if they do.
"Once you admit that this happened, it is a Pandora['s] box," Grozev said. "It requires you to confront the fact that you have your arch enemy acting against your own people, your own intelligence workers, on your territory, and this is nothing other than a declaration of war."
92. A March 31, 2024 article in The Insider entitled, “All I wanted was to see a doctor”: Ex-CIA officer tells all about his battle with Havana Syndrome — and his former agency, by Mark Polymeropoulos.
93. A March 31, 2024 article in Axios entitled, "Russian assassination unit linked to U.S. officials' "Havana syndrome." A good short summary of the CBS-Insider-Der Spiegel investigation.
94. An April 1, 2024 article in Foreign Policy Research Institute entitled, "Havana Syndrome: The History Behind the Mystery," by Lewis Regenstein. Contains useful information on the possible connections between Moscow Microwaves and Havana Syndrome, among other things. Also, see note 68.
95. An April 1, 2024 article in The Guardian entitled, "‘Havana syndrome’ linked to Russian unit, media investigation suggests," providing a summary of the CBS-Insider-Der Spiegel report that GRU unit 29155 is likely behind Havana Syndrome, with Kremlin press spokesman Peskov's reaction. Since Peskov almost always lies, he is a reliable predictor of what is actually true.
96. April 1, 2024. The State Department press spokesman Matthew Miller has said, in answer to questions, that State personnel will not face any penalties for disagreeing with the position of the Department and the intelligence community on Havana Syndrome, but that the Department's position on the issue remains the same.
Of course, everyone is grateful that no one will be punished for saying that the Emperor has no clothes, but it is past time for the Department and the community as a whole to bring their position into conformity with the obvious truth: the Russians, specifically the GRU, are attacking US diplomats and other government personnel with microwave weaponry that causes Havana Syndrome. To repeat, they are attacking our personnel. Any position short of this does a disservice to those loyal employees who have suffered as a result of Russian attacks and does a disservice to the American people as a whole. It's time to face facts, draw the appropriate conclusions, and take action.
97. An April 1, 2024 editorial in The Washington Post entitled, "Havana Syndrome Might Have Been a Russian Attack. The U.S. Can't Stop Investigating."
98. An April 1, 2024 article in AP entitled, "US defense official had ‘Havana syndrome’ symptoms during a 2023 NATO summit, the Pentagon confirms."
99. An April 2, 2024 editorial in The National Review entitled, "A Havana Syndrome Cover-Up?" Not such an outlandish question anymore.
100. An April 2, 2024 editorial in the Wall Street Journal entitled, "U.S. Intelligence and Havana Syndrome. A ‘60 Minutes’ report raises doubts about the official government explanation." Truth be told, it's hard for any unbiased observer to believe the Interagency Community's story at this point.
100A. An April 2, 2024 article in Newsweek entitled, "FBI Agent Hit by Havana Syndrome after Russian Spy Suspect Probe: Report."
101. A detailed April 3, 2024 Christo Grozev thread with incriminating documents on the GRU's role in Havana Syndrome.
Signed Acoustic Weapon Contract (2017)
102. An April 5, 2024 opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by Sharon Weinberger entitled, "Microwave Weapons Are Real, but They Can't Explain Havana Syndrome." An honest effort, but several years behind the times, and wrong. Here was my comment on her article:
Sharon Weinberger has written a well-reasoned piece on the problems involved in tracking down the causes of Havana Syndrome, and in particular the problems with designing a microwave weapon that would be portable and effective.
The problem is that her information is at least two years out of date, and possibly more. As Christo Grozev showed in his "The Insider" article from March 31, GRU Unit 29155 has been linked through documentation to just such weapons. The documents are available in the Grozev article. We may not know how to make them, but the Russians, who have led us in microwave research since Moscow Signal days, definitely do.
In addition, there are older articles, now blocked by the Russian Ministry of Defense, that claim that the Russians have portable devices that can cause symptoms similar to Havana Syndrome. For example, in 2019, Армейский Сборник published an article entitled В ПОИСКАХ «ГУМАННОГО» ОРУЖИЯ (in search of humane weapons) that copped to the entire program. I have the article on my website if she is interested. She won't find it anywhere else.
In addition, Ms. Weinberger would do well to check out the interview with Marc Polymeropoulos, a victim of Havana Syndrome, in "Mission Implausible" Havana Syndrome, part 2, of April 3, 2024. He and his former CIA colleagues have a few things to say about Havana Syndrome and the obstructionism of the Trump administration that might interest her.
103. An April 6, 2024 podcast, "Foreign Office with Michael Weiss," entitled Compelling Investigation Suggests Havana Syndrome Points to Russian Operatives." Goes into the detailed detective work tracing GRU Unit 29155 and how they always seemed to be present at Havana Syndrome attacks. Lots of names, dates, places, and documents were unearthed, most of which are already possessed by the U.S. intelligence community. Too many coincidences to be just chance occurrences. Here is the transcript.
Investigative journalists Christo Grozev, Roman Dobrokhotov and Michael Weiss have been looking into the Havana Syndrome since 2020. They initially approached the topic skeptically, questioning the capability of any government to carry out such a mass global attack. However, they discovered a document linking a Russian military unit to the Havana weapon, which sparked their investigation. They have been gathering evidence of overlaps between the travel of members of this unit and incidents related to the Havana Syndrome. The journalists have presented a prosecution case, highlighting motive, means, and opportunity, and are calling for the U.S. government to act as a defense attorney for the accused criminals.
Christo Grozev/Michael Weiss: [Weiss]Many Havana Syndrome victims suffer from Meniere's Disease. A GRU Institute specializes in this disease. Documentary proof that Andrey Averyanov is in contact with this GRU Institute constantly. [Grozev] Putin has highlighted the need for new weapons using new principles that will not kill, but just disable and be harder to detect. Patrushev has boasted that over the last ten years, Russia has "disabled" hundreds of Western agents [note: I believe Patrushev said "neutralized"]. Documentary proof that at least one type of "acoustic" weapon works (photo of an award for the invention). Evidence that teams being sent out by GRU now have doctors for support, in case the weaponry they are using to assassinate or disable blows back on them (Novichok, kinetic weaponry such as acoustic weapons). So, motive, means and opportunity are proven. We have proven six instances in which GRU teams were present in the same place as Havana Syndrome attacks. USG needs to come forward and explain why this evidence is not valid -- if they can. Instead, USG just gives blanket denials with no evidence. [Weiss] DIA (Edgreene) does not agree with the ODNI assessment and thinks it's the Russians. Clear that a deeply politicized debate is raging inside the intelligence community. Roman Dobrokhotov: The Russian version of the Insider story took off like wildfire on the Internet. Russians and Westerners on the Internet think that some kind of new red line has been crossed when a dictator (Putin) goes after his enemies in this way who are also diplomats or agents of a superpower. Almost a casus belli. Zakharova and Peskov are reacting uncharacteristically to these reports, in recognition that the implications are much more serious. It is a violation of the so-called "Moscow Rules" that you don't attack such people on each others' grounds (Russians don't attack American officials in America/friendly countries, and vice versa). We have proven that Havana Syndrome cannot be explained as psychosomatic. Our investigation shows that there is "more than enough proof" that the Russians are doing this. Also, the physics has been proven. Frey effect occurs when microwaves cause acoustic effects within the brain. American officials are silent because they understand the implications if they confirm what we already know. Michael Weiss: Thousands of people came forward to say they might have Havana Syndrome. There are a lot of false positives because the CIA sent out a worldwide plea for people to report symptoms they thought might be Havana Syndrome. The victims we interviewed, however, did not know of other people experiencing symptoms, and other diseases and psychosomatic factors were ruled out. Was originally called "Havana Syndrome" because the first cases were identified there in 2016-17, and some thought an attempt was being made to disrupt US-Cuban relations, which began improving under Obama. But we have identified at least one case in 2014 in Frankfurt with a GRU presence (Igor Gordiyenko), so it's not just about Havana. The victims that stand out the most have been "Russia Hands," including almost the entire Kyiv Station (or family), whose members inaugurated intelligence sharing with HUR in 2015. Q: Why is the US doing nothing? Q: What do you do against Russia, who is threatening to use nuclear weapons against the West regularly, and, if you acknowledge what is happening, how do you recruit people to serve as Russia Hands? Grozev: GRU 29155 was for years not concerned with targeting Americans, but instead regime opponents. Why the change? And if there is no retaliation, what is to stop the Russians from continuing? If the US invested a lot of effort into hunting members of GRU 29155, it would not be that hard to get results. We already have a list of several dozen potential arrestees, and we do not have the resources of the US. Trials on American soil would be a good deterrent to future GRU action. Putin is pragmatic. He will not stop unless he knows there are consequences. Weiss: Canadians have also been targeted. Another question that needs to be answered is why are no other nationalities (UK, France, Germany) being targeted? Oleg Kalugin told Weiss that the rule was that Russia would not go against the main adversary (the US). That Moscow rule now no longer holds.
104. An April 5, 2024 podcast on SpyTalk, featuring Michael Isikoff raising questions about the CBS Sixty Minutes report on Havana Syndrome [See note 90], entitled "More Havana Syndrome Questions." Moderator is Jeff Stein. Isikoff tries to poke holes in the story, but comes across as gullible when it comes to believing the official line from CIA, and ignorant about basic facts.
Isikoff: Nobody disputes that hundreds of US personnel suffered debilitating symptoms. But CIA's Global Health Cell concluded that it is very unlikely that a foreign adversary is behind any of these attacks. Isikoff was briefed on their efforts two years ago and they were very thorough. They couldn't find any evidence of a foreign adversary. [Note: they allegedly couldn't, but The Insider did: see notes 86-103]. Isikoff's first objection: 60 minutes didn't say anything about this CIA Report until 2/3 through their story [Note: But The Insider takes this on directly and convincingly -- see notes 86-103]. Isikoff's second objection: Where's the weapon and what does it look like? How big is it? What's the power source? Nobody knows [Once again, these questions are addressed in the Insider Article (note 88)]. Moderator says he has tracked down DoD patents for these weapons, but it's classified research. Isikoff's third objection: 60 Minutes report refers to brain injuries, but NIH study says there were none. [This study has been debunked, see notes 81, 82, 84, 85]. Moderator quotes Dr. James Giordano of Georgetown who says that microwaves can cause the equivalent of "the bends" without leaving a trace. Isikoff's fourth objection: Not true that all victims are Russia hands. Isikoff interviewed woman in Havana who had nothing to do with Russia, was HR officer. Also, wife of "Justice attache" in Georgia was a victim. Comment: I'm amazed at Isikoff's naivete. Is the HR person married? Where did the attack take place? (rhetorical questions indicating that we need to know more about her relationships and location during the attack). On Georgia, who is the FBI looking at in Georgia as likely counterintelligence targets? Where did the attack take place? Also, "The Insider" authors are not saying that it's exclusively Russia Hands -- they are just the ones that stand out. This implies that the others might be mistaken attacks. There is a likely Russia connection, even if he can't see it. Isikoff's fifth objection: The Russians, if they had such a weapon, would use it in Ukraine on our people there, and on Ukrainians. Here Isikoff is flat wrong, and his demonstrated ignorance is appalling (see note 103). In fact, members of the 2015 Kyiv station were attacked, only it was after they left Ukraine for other posts. Also, as explained in note 103, the Russians are using the weapon causing Havana Syndrome almost exclusively against Americans (in the hope of breaking Moscow rules without detection) and have other ways to get at Ukrainians -- notably poison and straight-up assassination. The reason: they have no need to conceal their attempts to kill Ukrainians. They also have reason not to kill American officials, but to disable them in undetectable ways. Isikoff also scoffs at Olivia Troye's story but gets the office geography of the EOB and White House wrong, so it's clear he doesn't know what he's talking about. Moderator brings up fact that Russia, China, and the US are all researching microwave weapons and that Russia for decades bathed our Embassy in Moscow in microwaves. This is true. Isikoff makes the point that the most anti-Cuban Senators, Rubio and Menendez, wanted to blame Havana Syndrome on Cuba in order to downgrade relations. This is also true.
105. April 9, 2024. AFSA Calls for Further Investigation into Cause of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) afsa.org
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Recently, 60 Minutes aired a report presenting compelling information involving AHI incidents impacting our members across the foreign affairs agencies as well as other government employees. Since these incidents began in 2016, AFSA has advocated for the best medical care and treatment available for our members and will continue to do so.
AFSA is urging the Department to undertake an investigation, given the information presented in the 60 Minutes report. We also request that the Department share information concerning posts where AHIs have occurred so that potential bidders are aware before seeking these assignments and provide an update about what protective measures are being undertaken to help employees feel safe, given the background surrounding these incidents.
Concerning our other longstanding advocacy efforts on behalf of those affected by AHIs (the Cohort), we continue to press for inclusion of members impacted before January 1, 2016, who are currently considered ineligible for benefits under the Havana Act (“HA”). AFSA also continues to support relief efforts for cases where HA benefit applications were initially denied on “other incident” grounds, and on appeal, were again denied by the Department.
If you have any questions about AFSA policy with regard to AHIs, please do not hesitate to contact us at member@afsa.org .
American Foreign Service Association
2101 E St. NW, Washington DC, 20037
Member@afsa.org | (202) 338-4045 afsa.org
106. A short opinion piece published on April 9, 2024, in the New York Times by Serge Schmemann on Havana Syndrome, entitled "Havana Syndrome and Russia's Unit 29155." An acknowledgment that there is a problem, but that's about all.
107. An April 9, 2024 podcast on Above Average Intelligence on Deep State Radio. Mark Polymeropoulos interviews Michael Weiss on the March 31 "The Insider" Article investigating Havana Syndrome (see note 88). Recapitulates information available in notes 88-103. Weiss goes through methodology (hacked passport numbers, easily available travel information for agents, GRU information for sale on the Internet, GRU has poor tradecraft, etc.) to show GRU 29155 role in assassinations, sabotage, and disabling attacks on Americans. Weiss also notes that GRU 29155 is operating internally against Putin regime opponents. GRU head Averyanov implicated in Prigozhin assassination, for example. Talks about GRU role in Georgia disabling attack (Sergey Averyanov), 2014 in Frankfurt (Igor Gordiyenko). Two cases of real AHI. GRU Unit 29155 member Ivan Terentyev got an award in 2017 for creating a "non-lethal acoustic weapon." None of this evidence was in the public domain. Polymeropoulos: The Insider story seized on by Europeans, since they have their own suspicions about Havana Syndrome. Weiss: US intelligence assessment doesn't seem to take account of this. Soviets were researching miniaturizing disabling microwave attacks in Kharkov in 1986. IC tells us that Russians have advanced much further in microwave attacks than anticipated (no names can be given for obvious reasons). KGB had its own line of approach in dealing with the Main Adversary (the US), but would probably use very different techniques with other countries. Canadian AHI cases in Havana are an anomaly. AHI cases were overwhelmingly Russia Hands or those stationed in affiliated countries. Polymeropoulos: Congressional committees were surprised by this information. Obviously, IC did not brief them on anything like this. IC is "like a treed cat now." Analysts are trying to sweep under the rug, covert ops people think Havana Syndrome and the Russian role is real. Weiss rehearses reasons IC doesn't want to admit what is happening. (1) Fear of what happens with escalation. (2) Acknowledging you can't protect your people and family members. Polymeropoulos: these are insufficient excuses. Congress is going to demand answers from IC. Weiss: Christo Grozev and I have already been asked to testify, and we will. We're not done with the investigation, we have more. Polymeropoulos: That should strike fear into the IC. (note: at this point, the restricted part of the podcast begins for subscribers only).
108. An April 10, 2024 article in PoliticoPro entitled "Havana Syndrome: At Least 8 NSA Employees Hit By Mystery Aiment, Agency Director Says." "The disclosure by NSA Director Gen. Timothy Haugh to lawmakers [Senate Armed Services Committee] on Wednesday adds to the list of U.S. intelligence workers and their families afflicted by the injuries, typically involving severe headaches, temporary hearing loss and vertigo."
109. An April 11, 2024 retrospective by ADST on Moscow Microwaves and the 1977 Embassy Moscow fire, both stories in which I play a small part.
110. An April 16, 2024 article in Substack Top Secret Umbra, by John Schindler, entitled "CIA to Workforce: Drop Dead." Schindler goes on the warpath over CIA's attempts to sweep Havana Syndrome under the rug.
111. An April 16, 2024 article in The Washington Times by Tom Rogan entitled, "CIA Doubles Down on See-No-Russian Havana Syndrome Spin." "Unfortunately for America but fortunately for Russia, the CIA’s handling of the so-called Havana syndrome issue remains highly problematic...That’s the only logical conclusion we can make from the short internal memo CIA Director Bill Burns sent to his workforce on Monday. In that memo, Burns affirmed the agency’s support for its prior assessment on Havana syndrome, or what the intelligence community refers to as “Anomalous Health Incidents.” Namely, that Havana syndrome is highly unlikely to be the result of a foreign actor...
Why did Burns send out his Monday memo? The simple answer: because of the Insider magazine’s March 31 reporting that ties Russia’s GRU military intelligence service operatives to both locations and periods in which U.S. government and military employees reported Havana syndrome-associated symptoms...Burns’s detail-short doubling down on his agency’s analysis is problematic...First, even if in a classified fashion, Burns should explain to his workforce whether the CIA’s investigation of Havana syndrome matches the basic rigor of the Insider’s investigation...Second, because Burns’s memo offered no answer to the Insider’s reporting and other reporting, including from the Washington Examiner, which shows that evidence of Russia’s Havana syndrome hand is neither fragmentary nor thin...We know that identified Russian intelligence officers have operated in close proximity to Americans who then report Havana syndrome-related symptoms. We know Russia possesses radio frequency/microwave pulse systems that would cause the exact same effects Havana syndrome victims report. We know that the CIA has been briefed on these systems by the foremost experts...[Third] We also know that the CIA’s operational cadres and some of America’s closest foreign intelligence partners strongly believe that Russian RF/MW activities are almost certainly involved here...While three sources have told me that the CIA has attempted to secure a Havana syndrome device, two sources say that this effort has been hamstrung by unwillingness on the part of the Biden administration and Burns to authorize a sufficiently aggressive physical posture against Russian intelligence operatives who, intelligence suggests, might be in possession of such devices...Unfortunately, Burns’s memo suggests that when it comes to Havana syndrome, intelligence community leaders still believe the truth is too dangerous to seek or see."
112. On April 17, 2024, an addition to the CBS Sixty Minutes story on Havana Syndrome (see notes 90-92, 101) that details Congressional reaction.
"At this time, we recognize that we must not let allegations carry more weight than evidence," the members of Congress wrote. "However, the 60 Minutes piece presented compelling evidence that warrants further review."
"The letter was signed by, among others, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence.
"There is no higher priority than the health and safety of American government employees and family members who commit their lives to advance U.S. national security interests," they wrote. "We must do everything we can to protect them."
113. An April 19, 2024 article in Government Executive entitled "Justice Department Outlines Benefits Rule for Havana Syndrome Victims."
114. An April 20, 2024 article in Israel Hayom entitled "US Deployed Microwave Missiles That Can Disable Iranian Nuclear Facilities."
"According to an exclusive report from DailyMail.com, the US Air Force has quietly deployed a new type of missile that can destroy the electronics of Iran's nuclear facilities using high-power microwaves, without causing any fatalities.
"The missiles, known as the Counter-Electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project (CHAMP), were developed by Boeing's Phantom Works for the US Air Force Research Laboratory. After successful testing in 2012, around 20 of these microwave missiles became operational and were deployed to various locations around the globe in 2019."
115. An April 24, 2024 opinion piece in Scientific American by Keith Kloor, entitled: "Soviet-Era Pseudoscience Lurks behind ‘Havana Syndrome’ Worries. Kloor, a journalist with no scientific training and no contact with Havana Syndrome victims, throws cold water on various microwave/sonic theories about the causes of the syndrome and then promotes a few unsupported theories of his own, the primary one being that gullible people in the West have fallen for Soviet/Russian pseudoscientific claims before, notably Soviet assertions in the 1960s and 1970s about parapsychological phenomena. He implies that the same sort of people are now jumping on the Havana Syndrome bandwagon. Naturally, Kloor does not provide any evidence to connect those who believe in parapsychology with persons who advance the theory that microwaves and sonic weapons might cause Havana Syndrome. It's a typical denial piece that throws unsupported assertions against the wall, hoping something sticks.
116. An April 24, 2024 article in the Miami Herald by Nora Gamez Torres, entitled: "After Complaints, National Institutes of Health Launches Review of Havana Syndrome Study." "Victims of Havana Syndrome told the Herald they saw the publication of the study — two weeks before the scheduled broadcast of a CBS “60 minutes” segment with information about potential Russian involvement in the incidents — as part of a government effort to contain the fallout."
117. An April 29, 2024 article in the Wisconsin Law Journal by Steve Schuster entitled "Newly Filed Report with Federal Court Seeks Havana Syndrome Transparency."
“Brian J. Karem, a journalist through his attorney, Mark Zaid, is requesting the court order the federal government to disclose non-exempt sections of 365 pages about Havana Syndrome within the next month…”
As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, CIA employees around the world, including in Wisconsin and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, are among the latest possible targets of Havana Syndrome.
“I don’t publicize this much, but I have certainly been evaluated for possible exposure myself,” Johnson said during an interview with the Wisconsin Law Journal previously.
“I lost my hearing and my balance simultaneously,” Johnson said, noting that the 2018 hearing loss has been permanent.
Johnson said he experienced significant neurological symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome following a 2018 trip to Moscow, which resulted in permanent hearing loss in one ear, balance issues and evaluation at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Walter Reed Hospital for Havana Syndrome.
“I had blood loss to my cranial nerve. … I am basically deaf in my right ear. My balance has come back to a certain extent, but it’s still impaired,” Johnson said, noting he wasn’t given a definitive Havana Syndrome diagnosis, but that was what was being evaluated.
Johnson said Shaheen was his ranking member when he was on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Rubio is co-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Johnson again expressed his frustration over getting answers about Havana Syndrome, regarding his own health, the health of his constituents and other Americans who may have fallen victim to Havana Syndrome.
“Getting information out of the Federal government is like pulling teeth. They simply do not provide it,” Johnson said.
118. A May 1, 2024 article in CNN by Natasha Bertrand entitled: "'There is so Much Anger:' Havana Syndrome Victims Frustrated CIA Isn't Blaming Russia for Symptoms." In my opinion, there could be a rationale for CIA's position, but no one in the administration is willing to come clean, because it raises more questions than it answers. It's a Pandora's Box. [Mark Polymeropoulos' comment: "Anger is very real. And the rent is now coming due. Current HPSCI investigation plowing forward full steam, and other committee hearings to follow (including an open hearing next week). Note-this oversight is on a bipartisan basis."]
119. A Twitter Chron of Havana Syndrome articles 2021-present by Alex Blackwell.
120. A May 6, 2024 article in the Wisconsin Law Journal by Steve Schuster entitled "CIA is Obstructing Justice and Witness Tampering in Havana Syndrome Cover-Up, Attorney Says." Note: D.C. attorney Mark Zaid is due to speak before the House Homeland Security Committee on May 8.
In response to WLJ's inquiry about specific examples, Zaid replied: "There is nothing specific that wouldn’t be either classified or that I couldn’t share because of sources.”
“But I can say this: as part of a current FOIA lawsuit I’m handling we learned CIA was withholding significant AHI documents from DOD,” Zaid added.
On Tuesday, April 30, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (defendants) responded to the James Madison Project (plaintiff’s) request to release hundreds of documents that would shed light on possible multi-agency government coverup over Havana Syndrome.
Zaid also represents the James Madison Project.
“The responsive documents appear to implicate the equities of numerous agencies, ODNI wrote in its response, noting, “In fact, most of the responsive documents were not generated by ODNI but rather were provided to the Inspector General during the investigation at issue.”
According to court documents, the ODNI has sought consultation from 10 different federal agencies or federal government organizations regarding a subset of the responsive records.
As previously reported by the Wisconsin Law Journal, on April 26, 2024, the director of National Intelligence filed a request in federal court seeking a two-business-day extension of time — until April 30, 2024, in a request to make public records that will likely shed light on some of mystery behind Havana Syndrome.
According to the April 30 response, the ODNI is providing the identity of the agencies with outstanding consultations and the number of pages associated with each consultation.
“ODNI also notes that certain pages pending consultation are undergoing review by multiple agencies simultaneously,” court documents noted.
The Central Intelligence Agency provided an estimated response date of July 31, 2024, for a consultation request concerning 32 pages of records.
Another agency who’s mere existence is classified is referred to in court documents a “Agency B.”
Agency B provided a July 15, 2024, response date to produce 42 pages of documents.
Zaid said in all of his years of working in intelligence community legal issues, this is a first for him.
“The most interesting aspect in that response is that the government is claiming that one or more agencies identities when associated with AHI is itself classified,” Zaid noted.
121. May 8, 2024 Testimony before the Homeland Security Committee on Havana Syndrome. Here is the witness testimony. Here is the ABC News report. Here is the Guardian article. Grozev breaks new ground and weaves a coherent story that makes ODNI denials of a role by a foreign adversary (GRU Unit 29155) look ridiculous. Zaid says that the classified evidence clearly indicates that some AHI's are due to the actions of a foreign adversary. We have the technology, and we know others do too. Grozev has talked with Russian intel officer with access who says Russians have been working on wave technology (ultrasound, pulsed microwaves) to affect humans since the 1980s. Russians believed that we were doing the same thing. Zaid says attacks have taken place in WDC area and Florida, and other places in US that he can't reveal due to legal privilege issues. Edgreen says the attacks are global, can't be more specific as to attackers in unclassified setting. HAVANA Act does not cover DOD active duty members. Zaid says CIA is blocking information from being shared with other agencies. Grozev says there could be legitimate reason for this: fear of proliferation of such weapons that are cheap and easily manufactured. Zaid agrees later with Cong. Goldman that "operational risk" could be another reason, but can't talk in detail about this in unclassified setting. All agree there is no reason not to hit back at adversaries, otherwise, they'll keep doing it. Grozev says at least 68 attacks cannot be explained away by psychosomatic or preexisting conditions. Four incidents known to be co-located with GRU presence (based on unclassified information). We have no data on GRU presence near people affected in US. Russians would not use GRU in US, they would use sleeper agents, most likely. Edgreen, skating perhaps over the line, says that for an answer to that question, Congressman Goldman should seek classified briefing from FBI. Goldman asks if any civilians afflicted with AHIs. Edgreen and Zaid say they are just focused on USG employees. Zaid notes, however, that you can just glance at his Twitter feed to see that many US civilians think they have been victims of Havana Syndrome. Grozev notes that overseas, many Putin regime opponents have similar stories. Responding to Cong. Swalwell, Edgreen says that currently, we do not have sufficient border controls in place to prevent people from entering, conducting an operation, and leaving again. Also, we need to update the HAVANA Act. DoD has not implemented the old act yet, and 500 DoD personnel need to be covered. Responding to Chairman Pfluger, Edgreen says that he can't get into specific numbers on cases, but 20-30% of attacks took place in the homeland. At present, coordination between agencies is slow and there are no procedures to systematize how incidents are dealt with. Zaid notes that FBI is getting better at reacting to incidents, but its effort to draft initial workforce/medical procedures took six months in 2021. During that time, Zaid's client "Carrie" was hit, she was stuck in limbo. Zaid: Our best and brightest are being targeted. Family members are most affected overseas because attackers "bathe the residence" per NSA memo (note: maybe straying into classified area again). In response to Chairman's question, both Edgreen and Grozev say it's most likely the Russians, and for attacks in China, Russians may be the attackers but have done it with full knowledge of the Chinese, who probably have their own weapons by now. Ranking Member Correa: Is there a coverup? Edgreen says IC's assessment is dead wrong. Can't say for sure why they are doing this. In his opinion "We already have attribution. Now's the time for retribution" and to take care of victims and their families. Zaid: There could be valid reasons why the IC is saying what it is saying, but their statements are "inconsistent with the classified record." It's up to Congress to decide why. Grozev agrees with Zaid and adds that whatever the reason, it will be a trigger for Putin to escalate if the US remains in denial, and not just with Havana Syndrome, but in Ukraine and other areas. That is how he thinks. Edgreen: We empowered CIA too much. CIA analysts drew the original conclusions, which were reviewed at the NIC level by other CIA analysts. Others need a role. "You show an analyst flowers, they're going to look for a wedding. You show a case officer flowers, they're going to look for a funeral." Answering a question from Cong. Crane, Edgreen and Zaid say that they know people who have passed away from their illness, but cannot name names for privacy reasons. Crane: Has the FBI dropped the ball? Edgreen: Very few people have been allocated to the investigation, and all have other duties. They approach it as a criminal, not a counterintelligence matter. Homeland security should be involved. So far, they have been cut out. Crane: Have any of you ever seen a weapon? Grozev: I have seen a 1991 version, with a dish. With miniaturization since then, it could be contained in the trunk of a car or a large backpack. Such a weapon could be "cobbled together" locally, it would not have to be imported. On evidence that the Russians produced such a weapon, Grozev cited the findings in his Insider article (see notes 88-89). The winner was later promoted [to be the Presidential Federal Inspector for Sakhalin], an unprecedented award indicating the significance that the Kremlin attached to the work.
122. A May 7, 2024 article in the Insider entitled, "Kremlin Botnet Launches Wave of Disinformation Claiming Havana Syndrome Doesn't Exist." To quote the old proverb: "Do not believe anything until the Kremlin denies it."
123. A May 22, 2024 article in Scientific American by Jon Stone and Kenneth R. Foster entitled, "We Don't Need to Choose Between Brain Injury and Mass Hysteria To Explain Havana Syndrome." [ SciAmlink ] Without getting into the long back and forth, the authors say that a phenomenon known as PPPD may be indicated as the cause, which boils down to saying that less powerful radio waves causing the Frey effect may be to blame for all the horrific symptoms suffered by Havana Syndrome victims. To me, this is just a rose by another name. Here is their description:
"Less discussed is that nearly a third fulfilled diagnostic criteria for a condition called persistent postural perceptual dizziness (PPPD). PPPD is a disorder related to abnormal brain function that can be triggered by any cause of dizziness or vertigo, and, like other subtypes of functional neurological disorder, can’t be seen with conventional tests. This condition gives us some unexamined clues about “Havana syndrome.”
"There is, however, a plausible relation between pulsed microwave exposure and PPPD that doesn’t involve brain damage: The microwave auditory effect (also called the Frey effect) occurs when pulsed radiofrequency energy directed to the head causes a tiny temperature rise in the skull and brain, which in turn creates a pressure wave that propagates through the head, leading to an unusual audiovestibular sensation that is perceived as sound. One of us who studied this as long ago as the 1970s is on record as saying that the effect is too weak under foreseeable exposure conditions to cause brain damage. However, calculations show that it should be possible to beam strong enough pulses of microwaves, millimeter waves or laser energy to disturb the vestibular system at levels anticipated to produce symptoms similar to those initially reported from AHIs. While these vestibular and auditory experiences would be expected to be short-lived, they would be enough, as an unexpected or unpleasant experience of dizziness, to trigger PPPD of much longer duration. This would also explain why many individuals experienced worsening symptoms over time, as commonly seen in PPPD, rather than improvement as would be expected after a brain injury."
The authors also note the following:
"Whatever the cause or causes of AHIs may be, there is reason to be concerned about directed energy weapons being used in nonmilitary settings. Russia, China and the U.S. are all thought to have large programs to develop directed energy weapons using high-powered (gigawatt) microwave and laser technology. Their obvious military uses include shooting down drones. Quite likely some energy weapon programs are developing antipersonnel weapons as well. In 2014, prominent Russian microwave engineers suggested using pulsed microwaves and the Frey effect to attack and cause confusion in Russia’s adversaries. China is known to be developing weapons for “neurostrike,” some of which involve high-powered microwaves. There is a dearth of studies involving possible health effects of high-peak-power microwave pulses, which are likely to be quite different from the comparatively well-studied pulsed microwaves at much lower peak power levels. Such studies are clearly needed, and they should be published in a way that is accessible to experts outside of government."
124. Insider tweet from June 12, 2024. (See Note 88 for more on the Silk Way story)
125. A June 14, 2024 article in the Washington Examiner entitled, "Intelligence Bill Eyes Commission on Havana Syndrome."
126. A July 1, 2024 article in Microwave News -- A Report on Non-Ionizing Radiation entitled, "Cell Tower Radiation Linked to Genetic Changes in Nearby Residents." Well, isn't that special?
127. A July 7, 2024 report by "CBS Sixty Minutes" entitled, "Havana Syndrome Mystery Continues as a Lead Military Investigator Says Bar for Proof Was Set Impossibly High."
128. A July 24, 2024 SpyTalk substack by Jeff Stein entitled, "A Bright Light, Snuffed Out Too Soon," reporting the death of CIA Officer Zoe Moulton and speculating that her cancer may have been caused by a Havana Syndrome attack in Vienna. Note: some cancers are associated with exposure to microwaves, most especially leukemia. However, this is the first time bile duct cancer has been linked (speculatively) to Havana Syndrome. Also see note 130.
129. A July 29, 2024 GAO report entitled, "Havana Syndrome: Better Communication and Monitoring of Key DoD Tasks Needed to Better Ensure Timely Treatment." The IC is still in denial about Havana Syndrome, and its official position is that AHI's may happen, but DEFINITELY not because of foreign actors. The Pentagon seems to be a bit more practical, however, since its people still need proper treatment.
130. An August 9, 2024, Washington Times article by Daniel N. Hoffman entitled, "CIA Officer's Sacrifice Shows Need to Crack Havana Syndrome Mystery." Discusses the case of CIA Officer Zoe Moulton. Also see note 128.
131. An August 23, 2024, Government Executive article by Sean Michael Newhouse entitled, "Republicans Ask for an Update on Havana Syndrome Treatment." The Congressmen questioned why there had been no satisfactory explanation for the causes of the syndrome, criticized inequalities in the treatment of victims, and noted that "it still remains unclear how the Biden-Harris administration is working to address AHIs."
132. An August 28, 2024 X post by journalist Jack Murphy indicated the NIH study on Havana Syndrome is being shut down due to a medical ethics review. [translated: participants were forced into the study and the data was cooked, indicating possible efforts to cover up the actual causes and effects of Havana Syndrome.] See notes 81, 82, 83, 85.
133. An August 29, 2004 article in the Miami Herald by Nora Gamez Torres entitled "Patients were coerced to join Havana Syndrome study, National Institutes of Health says."
134. An August 30, 2024 article in the New York Times by Adam Goldman and Julian E. Barnes, entitled "FBI Releases Redacted Report on Havana Syndrome." The report, originally written in 2019, sowed doubts within the CIA and Trump administration about the root causes of the ailments. Here is the redacted version. It would appear that since then the FBI has changed its tune since its agents are now reporting Havana Syndrome symptoms (See note 40). See also notes 48 (episode 8), 66, 110A, 104 and 121.
135. A September 1, 2024 article in CNN by Jen Christensen, entitled "NIH Cancels 'Havana Syndrome' Research, Citing Unethical Coercion of Participants." The CIA lied about forcing people to join the NIH study on Havana Syndrome as a condition for getting treatment at Walter Reed. Now the study has been canceled when it was discovered by others that coercion was indeed used. One wonders what else the CIA has been lying about, and why?
136. A September 3, 2024 post in the Top Secret Umbra substack by John Schindler entitled, "Havana Syndrome is the Greatest Scandal in the History of American Intelligence." I can think of a few that are bigger, but the author does have a point.
Schindler also reports, without going into detail, on a CIA operation to capture GRU agents in the act with a handheld device. The operation was suddenly and inexplicably canceled by the Station Chief.
Schindler has also concluded that several moles are operating in the IC who identify targets for GRU Havana Syndrome operations, which explains why the largest portion of victims of AHI's are "Russia House" people, or counterintelligence agents, or their families.
Schindler also singles out for particular criticism "David Cohen, who’s been CIA’s deputy director throughout Biden’s presidency (he held the same post during the final two years of Obama’s presidency). A partisan hack, Cohen is despised by the workforce at Langley in no small part thanks to his acting as enforcer regarding AHI, leading the cover-up and threatening CIA staffers who dissent from the party line regarding Havana Syndrome."
Following the next Presidential election, Schindler calls on Congress to start asking pointed questions, no matter who wins, since he believes that neither a Trump nor a Harris administration will pursue Havana Syndrome with the vigor it requires.
137. A September 5, 2024 article in the Washington Examiner by Bill Gertz entitled, "NSA Document Reveals Russians Had Microwave Weapon Suspected in Attacks." The article summarizes the 1996 NSA incident in "a hostile country" (most likely Russia) and the Top Secret Umbra substack by John Schindler in Note 136. See also Notes 8A, 16A, 72, 139 and Part IV "Incident in a Hostile Country."
138. A September 13, 2024 story in Fox News by Jennifer Griffin and Liz Friden entitled, "Havana Syndrome Study Shut Down after Mishandling Data." ( broken link. However, manually copying the link to a browser works) ( https://www.foxnews.com/world/havana-syndrome-study-shut-down-after-mishandling-data ). See also notes 81, 82, 83, 85, 104, 117, 132, 135.
Subhead: Congress and the FBI were among the government institutions that were either lied to or misled. According to CIA documents. 
"The CIA has consistently lied to the American public about anomalous health incidents (AHI) for the last several years and may be guilty of obstruction of justice, according to documents recently released by the U.S. government."
"The new information verifies the former report. A whistleblower filed a complaint last year with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s Inspector General. We obtained the information via a FOIA request and subsequent lawsuit brought by the James Madison Project and attorney Mark Zaid.
“The CIA, with apparent assistance of elements of the DNI — notably the National Intelligence Council and the National Counter Intelligence and Security Center . . . is engaged in the active suppression of witnesses, and actions which may constitute obstruction of justice and witness tampering as define in federal statute,” it states in the released documents.
"The NSA provided Zaid, as part of his representation of a pre-Havana AHI victim Michael Beck, a memorandum dated October 14, 2014, stating that it possessed “intelligence information from 2012 associating the hostile country to which Mr. Beck traveled to in the late 1990s with a high-powered microwave system weapon that may of the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence.” The intelligence information in question remains classified.
Comment: I believe this is what we call in the legal business a "clincher." It should be enough for HPSCI and others to open a new investigation that will have serious consequences.
See also Notes 8A, 16A, 72, 141, 142 and Part IV "Incident in a Hostile Country." For possible motivations for a cover-up, see notes 107 and 136, among others.
140. A September 16, 2024 opinion piece in The Hill by Mark Lenzi entitled, "Congress, Please Let Me Give You a Classified Briefing on Havana Syndrome."
"Like so many other U.S. government personnel injured before me by microwave radiation attacks (the technology has been around since the 1960s and the Soviets were always much more advanced than the U.S. in weaponizing and miniaturizing it) I would have preferred to stay quiet. And I would have, had the U.S. government actually provided timely medical help to my children.
"Instead, State Department doctors told me and my wife in 2018 that “children are better able to handle directed energy waves because they have more padding between the brain and skull than adults do.” They refused to treat my children, which led to their injuries being much worse than they should have been.
"The State Department and intelligence community became so upset after President Donald Trump rightly and publicly referred to our injuries as the result of “attacks,” that they covered up and suppressed classified information showing we had indeed been injured by Russian pulsed microwave attacks.
"This has led to an absurd situation wherein the State Department is feigning ignorance about the cause of our injuries, yet has compensated my family more than $1 million for our diagnosed traumatic brain injuries due to “external exposure” to high levels of pulsed microwave radiation.
"The American people have a right to know which country caused the injuries for which their tax dollars have compensated us."
"The whistleblower who went to the IC’s Inspector General is a CIA officer and AHI victim whose tale of bureaucratic abuse by the top echelons of the IC is genuinely shocking, even to cynical, world-weary counterspies like yours truly. [Significantly, the victim was assaulted within the United States.] It cites “urgent concern” that IC leaders have systematically lied about AHI to virtually everybody, including Congress. In particular, it alleges that ODNI intentionally misrepresented Havana Syndrome in the March 2023 Intelligence Community Assessment on the AHI matter, including “active suppression of dissent through the abuse of authority, knowing exclusion and suppression of intelligence or information which contradicts the predetermined analytic line, the active suppression of witnesses, and actions which may constitute obstruction of justice and witness tampering as defined in federal statute.”
"To manufacture the consensus, the CIA, with apparent assistance of elements of the DNI – notably the National Intelligence Council and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center – is engaged in the apparent suppression of dissenting information, intelligence, and/or evidence contradictory to the preferred analytic line [on AHI].
"Intelligence abuses, some of which can be compared to “cooking the books” in financial and investment fraud…withholding contradictory information, using unethical bureaucratic maneuvering, direct and indirect threats of career consequences, actual adverse career impacts and intimidation…should witnesses of victims cooperate with the FBI.
"Some of the actions of the Central Intelligence Agency, and to an extent the NIC and ODNI… could arguably be characterized as conducting an information operation against the public, Congress, the Intelligence Community, and the defense community…I have seen or obtained specific documents known to the CIA which were withheld, one of which existed as far back as 2019, which contradict [the ICA’s] underlying assumptions…Additionally I have [REDACTED] information that one victim requested to speak to the FBI but was told their information had been passed to the FBI already. This victim remains unknown to the FBI and FBI investigators have none of the information related to this victim and their reported incident.
"Should an adversary execute a directed energy attack in the United States without detection, then logically the FBI and the IC are not as effective in counterintelligence as portrayed internally and externally. The failure in subsequent years since 2016 to address also calls into question the competency and efficacy of [CIA] leadership…The existence of AHIs in the homeland, and arguably abroad, in which attribution is determined would then create a difficult policy question for the USG."
See also Notes 8A, 16A, 72, 139, 142 and Part IV "Incident in a Hostile Country." For possible motivations for a cover-up, see notes 107 and 136, among others.
142. A September 19, 2024 podcast by Brian Karem entitled, "Uncovering the Truth: 'Havana Syndrome'-- Separating Fact from Fiction with FOIA Attorney Mark Zaid."
CIA declined to participate in this podcast. Zaid represents over two dozen persons from the InterAgency community on various issues, including "Havana Syndrome." Zaid has reviewed the whistleblower complaint and is suing to release it in full. So far, a heavily redacted copy has been released (about 10% of the 360-page complaint). The House opened a formal investigation in 2023, but no member of Congress, even in USG districts in VA and MD, is focusing on this issue. 
Grozev identified the links between the GRU and the attempt to assassinate the Skripals. Dobrokhotov has broken many stories with Grozev on Russian assassination and sabotage operations, including GRU unit 29155's links to Havana Syndrome attacks on American officials and their families. Grozev recently testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on Havana Syndrome. (see notes 60, 88, 91, 101,103,107, 121)
151. In a December 5, 2024 report On Havana Syndrome, HPSCI rakes CIA and the IC over the coals. It could be worse, but I don't know how. HPSCI's conclusions:
1. It is increasingly likely a foreign adversary is responsible for some portion of reported AHIs.
2. The Committee has direct evidence the Intelligence Community Assessment on AHIs was developed in a manner inconsistent with analytic integrity and thoroughness.
3. The Intelligence Community tried to impede the CIA Subcommittee’s investigation at every turn.
4. This interim report is just the beginning of the CIA Subcommittee’s work on the IC’s response to AHIs.
5. Chairman Crawford is currently finalizing a substantial and highly classified report. It involves very sensitive information gathered over the past two years that was previously unknown to the Committee.
6. The conclusions published by the DNI in the unclassified Intelligence Community Assessment on AHI are dubious at best, misleading at worst.
7. Changes are needed to address the irregularities in investigative and analytic processes that resulted in the IC’s published conclusions on AHI.
8. Additionally, the U.S. government must codify and establish clear, effective medical care, particularly long-term care, for AHI-affected personnel.
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1486
Zaid says that the U.S. is researching and has devices that would cause Havana Syndrome. We have been researching the technology since the 1950s. We have captured no such devices from other powers. Much of the technology is classified. The notion that Havana Syndrome is "mass psychosis" is either naive or promoted by people who do not want the truth to come out. It is true that people have AHI symptoms that are caused by other factors, but there are many genuine Havana Syndrome cases as well. NSA sent Zaid a letter admitting that a foreign power did have microwave devices that could harm Zaid's clients. The Soviets used microwaves against Embassy Moscow beginning in the 1960s, but for different purposes.
Zaid says he is contacted every day by civilians who think they are suffering from AHI's. Many are tin-foil hat cases, others may be genuine. Zaid has not seen "smoking gun" evidence of Havana Syndrome devices even in the classified materials he has seen, but there is also clear evidence of a cover-up, and the evidence indicates that it is an attack by a foreign adversary. The whistleblower complaint is the first attempt to clarify this issue.
See also Notes 8A, 16A, 72, 139, 141 and Part IV "Incident in a Hostile Country." For possible motivations for a cover-up, see notes 107 and 136, among others.
143. A September 14, 2024 post in the Top Secret Umbra substack by John Schindler entitled, "When the Kremlin Hides its Lethal Secrets in Plain Sight: What if Moscow wants us to know who and what’s behind the infamous “Havana Syndrome."
"Overall, the book offers a guide to the full range of intelligence operations, from the collection of HUMINT (there’s a lot on how to recruit and validate assets) and SIGINT (which wiretaps work best, plus how to protect your own communications security), to intelligence analysis, even how to apply disinformation. There’s considerable discussion about how to mess with the heads of your target with physical and psychological manipulation, and here’s where things get interesting. The author elaborates the uses of a full array of unpleasant spy tricks, including hypnosis, the use of compromising materials (i.e. kompromat) including sex and drugs to influence the mind, plus there’s frank discussion of torture, even something termed “zombification” (essentially a Chekist take on coerced mental programming).
"Of greatest interest to AHI is the book’s section on “technotronic methods” for influencing the target, including an alarmingly frank explanation of how to effectively use electric shock to make your subject confess, without killing him, as well as how to apply ultrasound to “bake” the target’s brain, as here:
"In this case, both thermal and mechanical effects of elastic vibrations with frequencies over 100 kHz are used. Even the low intensity of such concentrated vibrations significantly affects the thought structures and nervous system, causing headaches, dizziness, visual and respiratory disorders, convulsions, and sometimes loss of consciousness. Devices for such effects are easy to make yourself. "Baking" selected areas of the brain with well-focused ultrasound is sometimes used to permanently remove unwanted memories from memory, but this is only possible with well-trained personnel and special equipment used in medicine.
“Ronin” continues with an explanation of the espionage uses of infrasound, that is, a type of sound wave with a frequency that falls below the normal range of human hearing, typically less than 20 Hz:
The use of mechanical resonance of elastic vibrations with frequencies below 16 Hz, usually imperceptible to the ear, is quite effective in terms of its effect on a person is the use of mechanical resonance of elastic vibrations with frequencies below 16 Hz. The most dangerous interval here is considered to be from 6 to 9 Hz. Significant psychotronic effects are most pronounced at a frequency of 7 Hz, consonant with the alpha rhythm of natural brain vibrations, and any mental work in this case becomes impossible, since it seems that the head is about to explode into small pieces. Low-intensity sound causes nausea and ringing in the ears, as well as deterioration of vision and unaccountable fear. Medium-intensity sound upsets the digestive organs and the brain, causing paralysis, general weakness, and sometimes blindness. Elastic powerful infrasound can damage, and even completely stop the heart. Usually, unpleasant sensations begin with 120 dB of tension, traumatic ones - with 130 dB. Infra-frequencies of about 12 Hz with a strength of 85-110 dB induce attacks of seasickness and dizziness, and oscillations with a frequency of 15-18 Hz with the same intensity instill feelings of anxiety, uncertainty and, finally, panic and fear.
"Last, the book illuminates the reader concerning what he terms “Ultra-high frequency (UHF) non-ionizing radiation”:
"This electromagnetic microwave radiation affects bio-currents with a frequency of 1 to 35 Hz. As a result, there are disturbances in the perception of reality, an increase and decrease in tone, fatigue, nausea and headache; complete sterilization of the instinctive sphere is possible, as well as damage to the heart, brain and central nervous system. Waves actively modulated in the frequencies of the alpha rhythm of the brain are capable of causing irreversible “quirks” in behavior.
"UHF radiation introduces information directly into the brain, and in their fields any psycho-processing of the subconscious is noticeably accelerated. Telephone and radio line wiring, sewer and heating pipes, as well as a television, telephone and fire alarm are quite usable as antenna transmitters of such waves. The working equipment, in fact, can really be made in makeshift laboratory conditions. Directed microwave radiation usually manifests itself in twitching of the legs, burning in the soles, earache, eye irritation, clicking in the “buzzing” head, blows to the nasopharynx accompanied by coughing, sneezing and runny nose, possible cardiac arrhythmia and numbness of the hands. Such symptoms usually disappear after the person leaves the radiation zone."
"I’m no scientist but what “Ronin” described in 1997 tracks with disturbing precision with depictions of what an AHI attack feels like and the lasting medical harm it causes, according to many Havana Syndrome victims who have come forward with their accounts. How did “Ronin” know all this, in such detail, nearly three decades ago? He was obviously relying on highly classified KGB information here. According to intelligence sources, the KGB studied the impact of these ugly techniques on prisoners, who served as Kremlin guinea pigs before they used their secret weapon for the first time on real-live American spies in 1996."
144. An October 1, 2024 OpEd in "Weekly Intelligence Notes" by Lewis Regenstein entitled, "The Intelligence Community Under Attack - From Within." Regenstein summarizes what is publicly known about Havana Syndrome, including its relationship to Moscow Microwaves and attempts by the Intelligence Community to suppress information on the subject.
145. An October 21, 2024 Trailer for the French documentary, "Havana Syndrome."
146. An October 25, 2024 retrospective by ADST on the Moscow Embassy bugging scandal, and excerpts from an interview with Ambassador Hartman. https://adst.org/2022/09/a-tale-of-two-embassies-microphones-microwaves-and-spyware/?mc_cid=e0dd80260d&mc_eid=c9c7ce45cd
147. A November 4, 2024 article in War Zone by Joseph Trevithick entitled, "CIA Has Secret 'Non-Violent' Way To Disable Large Ships." Remember, there is no such thing as an HPM (high-powered microwave) directed energy system capable of neutralizing military targets—except, of course, for the ones the U.S. is already deploying around the world.
148. A November 27, 2024 article in Punchbowl News by Andrew Desiderio entitled, "Havana Syndrome Victim Asks Congress to Probe State Department." Mark Lenzi, a "victim of the so-called “Havana Syndrome” is calling on Congress to investigate the State Department for whistleblower retaliation, alleging he’s being forced out of his diplomatic post in Helsinki after asking to brief lawmakers about the mysterious illness."
149. A November 28, 2024 article in The Times by David Brown entitled, "Russian Spying Ring Planned Honeytrap to Bait Journalists." A Russian plot to kill or kidnap investigative journalists Christo Grozev (Bellingcat), Lev Dobrokhotov (Insider) and others.
Grozev identified the links between the GRU and the attempt to assassinate the Skripals. Dobrokhotov has broken many stories with Grozev on Russian assassination and sabotage operations, including GRU unit 29155's links to Havana Syndrome attacks on American officials and their families. Grozev recently testified before the House Homeland Security Committee on Havana Syndrome. (see notes 60, 88, 91, 101,103,107, 121)
150. On December 4, 2024, a lawsuit was filed by Mark Zaid against the Department of State on behalf of Havana Syndrome victims.
151. In a December 5, 2024 report On Havana Syndrome, HPSCI rakes CIA and the IC over the coals. It could be worse, but I don't know how. HPSCI's conclusions:
1. It is increasingly likely a foreign adversary is responsible for some portion of reported AHIs.
2. The Committee has direct evidence the Intelligence Community Assessment on AHIs was developed in a manner inconsistent with analytic integrity and thoroughness.
3. The Intelligence Community tried to impede the CIA Subcommittee’s investigation at every turn.
4. This interim report is just the beginning of the CIA Subcommittee’s work on the IC’s response to AHIs.
5. Chairman Crawford is currently finalizing a substantial and highly classified report. It involves very sensitive information gathered over the past two years that was previously unknown to the Committee.
6. The conclusions published by the DNI in the unclassified Intelligence Community Assessment on AHI are dubious at best, misleading at worst.
7. Changes are needed to address the irregularities in investigative and analytic processes that resulted in the IC’s published conclusions on AHI.
8. Additionally, the U.S. government must codify and establish clear, effective medical care, particularly long-term care, for AHI-affected personnel.
https://intelligence.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=1486
Here is the Interim HPSCI Report (10 pages).
152. A December 5, 2024 article in Sixty Minutes Overtime by Scott Pelley entitled, "Foreign Adversary Was Likely Behind Havana Syndrome, House Intelligence Leaders Say." Marc Polymeropoulos, a former senior CIA operations officer who was injured in Moscow in December 2017, spoke out about the Thursday report. "The report indicates to me that not only was there incompetence on the part of CIA, but also willful malfeasance," Polymeropoulos said.
153. A December 5, 2024 article in The Washington Times by Bill Gertz entitled, "House Intelligence Panel Sees Foreign Link to 'Havana Syndrome' Incidents." Includes denial by Nicole de Haay, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
154. A December 10, 2024 article in Just Security by James Petrilla entitled, "The Right Questions on Havana Syndrome and Where To Go from Here." "Jim Petrila, an intelligence lawyer with decades of experience, asks the right questions about #HavanaSyndrome: Have attacks occurred, has @CIA met its obligations toward injured officials, have its investigations been credible, and is there a better approach?"
"If you know that something has happened to a number of people, but you don’t know what, it certainly helps to think about who might have done it, and why. On this point, the IC seems to have decided to put its collective head in the sand and ignore what is likely a series of dedicated targeted Russian attacks on U.S. personnel."
155.
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“The opinions and characterizations in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the U.S. government.”
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