Havana syndrome: Secret espionage warfare or mere medical disorder? | DW News

Cases of so-called Havana syndrome recently occurred at the US Embassy in Bogota. After they were reported jn the Wall Street Journal, Colombia's President Ivan Duque confirmed the fact to the AFP news agency. "Of course we have knowledge of this situation, but I want to leave it to the US authorities, who are doing their own investigation because it is about their own personnel," he said during a visit to New York. At least five families connected to the embassy in Colombia are said to have experienced symptoms of the mysterious syndrome. The US mission in Bogota is one of the largest in the world. In addition to career diplomats and staff, numerous intelligence agents and Drug Enforcement Administration officials are stationed there.

The puzzling syndrome first came to light in 2016, when dozens of cases were detected among US and Canadian diplomats and their family members in the Cuban capital. Those affected suffered from drowsiness, fatigue, headaches and problems with hearing and vision. Some of those afflicted even lost their hearing permanently. Since the incidents in Cuba, symptoms have been repeatedly reported by US diplomats and intelligence officials, including in Russia, China, Austria and, most recently, in Berlin. Those impacted by the phenomenon reported nausea, dizziness, severe headaches, earaches and fatigue, and some were unable to work, the Wall Street Journal wrote. US representatives with Havana syndrome have also been registered in other European countries, the newspaper reported. Some of those affected were involved with issues such as gas exports, cybersecurity and political interference, it wrote.

US intelligence coordinator Avril Haines said recently that authorities remained unsure about what is triggering the "anomalous health incidents." But conjectures abound, of course. Experts at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the US voiced one in December 2020, suggesting that targeted pulses of radio-frequency energy were behind the symptoms. Other researchers believe the Havana syndrome is caused by microwave weapons that adversaries of the US use to specifically target diplomats, intelligence officials and their families. Such weapons employing high-frequency radiation have already been developed. Microwaves operate in the range of one to 300 gigahertz. The microwave oven that many have at home heats meals at a frequency of 2.5 gigahertz. As the frequency increases, the radiation contains more energy. Using the right devices, it can be aimed at people. The rays then penetrate the body to a depth that depends on the frequency and can cause damage there. The US Department of Defense, for example, has developed a weapons system that uses microwaves at a frequency of 95 gigahertz. Another possible cause of the symptom that has been considered is sonic weapons — this thesis is supported, for example, by the fact that some Havana sufferers heard a piercing sound before their symptoms began. Other Havana syndrome patients, however, heard nothing. There could also be systems that allow attacks in the inaudible range, but little is known about these except that military officials have been researching them. So far, experts have classified their existence as highly unlikely. The question of who is responsible for the Havana syndrome is just as unclear as that of its causes. In May, US government officials, who asked not to be named, told Politico magazine that they suspected Russia's GRU military intelligence agency of being behind the attacks. The White House, however, has not officially made any accusations at this time.

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[margaretfahey]

We are all in trouble from the criminal use of neuro weapons, not just those who are being falsely presented as mentally disordered as a cover story for such criminal activity.

[cosmiccactus]

Sometimes secrets are too hard to cover up so they spin the narrative before anyone else figures out what's going on

[horus]

This technology isn't far fetched or a result of any delusional syndrome. Dismissing someone as crazy is just another way of getting the perpetrators of these crimes off of the hook. 😢

[tanklergaming]

Radio frequency can be harnessd to induce cellular level damage to the human body. This method can also be described as biological warfare as it does affect the biology of the target.

[theoneandonly]

Targeted individuals have been victims of these attacks for a long time.

[SomeGuyWho]

They gotta pay the ultimate price these ungodly awful crimes that ruin people's lives..

[walterbenjamin]

This was terrible. Doctors love to blame the patient when they haven't got a clue.

[matthewevans]

Considering the technology was theoretically possible in the 50s, just imagine the advances that would undoubtedly have been made by DARPA and it's counterparts in the intervening 70 years.

There are many different iterations of this type of tech. From microwave weapons like the Active Denial system that inflict physical pain on their targets, to neuro weapons such as pulsed RF that can incapacitate.

Military and intelligence officials deffinetly want to keep it underwraps given the potential chaos it's proliferation would cause. Not to mention the power that their own monolopy bestows.
-ti

[Matheologia]

Wow, Havana's crickets are pretty loud, being able to incapacitate secret agents all the way to Vienna and Berlin.

[BoxingRestricted]

Now do a story on all the innocent citizens being watchlisted and called "non-investigative subjects" and having their lives destroyed

[lizharrell]

I have no dellusions, I don't have paranoia and I don't even experience anxiety as I've made peace with my past and present situations through a lot of healing work. I am of sound mind. I can HEAR the directed energy beams and I can FEEL them pulsing in my body when I am being attacked. It is not all the time, typically at night; most targeted folks I've heard from, report similar attacks. There is no mass dellision that would cause this. Maybe we should start trusting people and trusting the symptoms of our bodies. They were not designed from millions of years of intelligent evolution to self-destruct by a spontaneous functional disorder...

[phreak]

Maryland telecom engineer working very near a famous military agency and I am a civilian. I'm not sure how or why i've become targeted but this has been happening to me for several months now. There is obvious "plausible deniability" here with no trace or evidence. Literally someone standing next to you cannot hear it because it is a laser directed focused narrow beam of sound that can go through walls and travel a long distance. Spoke with a lawyer that said since no one has told you there is an open case they cannot help. How is this legal against civilians????

[bounceofffast]

at one point of the video it said such a microwave weapon will be "difficult to hide", but at an earlier point of the video it shows a very portable energy weapon that can take down a drone . ... I am confused ...

[IKEMENOsakaman]

This is so scary... Before, it was showing off a powerful weapon of mass destruction. Now, it's done in secret, which sparks more fear.

[NikkiGregory]

The United States is doing this to its own citizens. I don't know why but that is the sound.

[WVMothman]

Man consumes metals all his life, body becomes host for these metals, man becomes antenna, man gets wifi in his home & carries smart phone. More microwave antennas go up!. Metals in body start activating. Man hurts. Simple.

[aujax]

a functional disorder ignores the brain damage shown on MRI studies and the fact that many people in the same diplomatic line of work have been affected often simultaneously. clearly there is an external cause here.

[DallasTaylor]

This is definitely real and not a medical or mental issue.

[kerryburns]

Working with radar in the seventies, it was accepted that any secret new device we heard about would have been in use for at least five years. Anything we actually saw would be 10 years old or more. The "man in the street" would hear about something when it was at least 20 years old.
These "experts" would do well to be a little more humble regarding their lack of knowledge.

[ColemanJRimer]

If it was only happening in Cuba, okay, maybe it's mass hysteria. However, it's happening all over the world, including DC now. I would have to assume microwave tech has advanced since the 70s. It just irritates me when a doctor doesn't have a solid answer for something, it becomes, "well, it's probably in your head".