Free Republic

Havana syndrome, an alleged malady that purportedly affects U.S. intelligence and military officials, is back in the news thanks to an investigative report by 60 Minutes. The report was accompanied by a big, splashy headline: "Russian nexus revealed during 60 Minutes Havana Syndrome investigation into potential attacks on U.S. officials." That's right: CBS has decided that the mysterious ailments—headaches, earaches, etc.—afflicting some American service personnel are perhaps explained by a secretive Russian program to create energy weapons. The 60 Minutes report begins by interviewing "Carrie," an FBI agent who claims that she was struck by just such an energy weapon...

From 2019 and 2022, Scott Pelley's investigation into neurological symptoms and serious brain injuries reported by U.S. diplomats, intelligence agents and troops around the world and even on the grounds of the White House.

Members of Russian military intelligence unit 29155, who allegedly have access to microwave or ultrasound weapons, had been placed at the scene of reported attacks that resulted in US personnel suffering health problems, according to a year-long investigation by the Latvia-based Insider in collaboration with CBS’s “60 Minutes” and Germany’s Der Spiegel. Christo Grozev, the head of investigations with The Insider, told “60 Minutes” that he uncovered accounting records that show a 29155 officer received a bonus for work related to the development of “non-lethal acoustic weapons.” Unit 29155 has reportedly operated around the world since 2008, and is suspected...

The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.The mysterious ailment known as “Havana syndrome” did not result from the actions of a foreign adversary, according to an intelligence report that shatters a long-disputed theory that hundreds of U.S. personnel were targeted and sickened by a clandestine enemy wielding energy waves as a weapon.###Seven intelligence agencies participated in the review of approximately 1,000...

U.S. suspicions are rising that a Russian GRU-led attack cell is conducting pulsed radio frequency or microwave attacks against U.S. personnel, which is resulting in the so-called Havana Syndrome. Contemporary reports of the syndrome were first reported by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Havana, Cuba, in 2016. Many more U.S. personnel across the globe have since reported Havana Syndrome symptoms, which include aural distortions, severe headaches, loss of balance, and nose bleeds. Numerous affected CIA, State Department, and U.S. military attaches have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries as a result of their exposure.

The CIA has removed its top officer in Vienna following criticism of his management, including what some considered an insufficient response to a growing number of mysterious health incidents at the U.S. Embassy there, according to current and former U.S. officials.... The sidelining of the station chief in one of the largest and most prestigious CIA posts is expected to send a message that top agency leaders must take seriously any reports of “Havana Syndrome,” the phenomenon named after the Cuban capital where U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers had first reported unusual and varied symptoms, from headaches to vision problems...

At least two U.S. diplomats will be medically evacuated from Vietnam after “Havana Syndrome” incidents were reported over the weekend in the capital city of Hanoi ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ arrival, according to two senior U.S. officials. ...The description of the incidents as “acoustic” indicates that the affected diplomats heard strange sounds. That was also the case with many of the original Havana Syndrome cases in Cuba, but there have been other incidents that did not involve sound. The weekend incidents in Hanoi occurred at the staffers’ homes, not at ...

The mysterious "Havana Syndrome" illness, which some intelligence officials believe might be a microwave attack by foreign actors, has claimed another 20 U.S. diplomatic and intelligence personnel victims abroad since President Joe Biden took office. About two dozen U.S. intelligence officers, diplomats, and other government officials, in Vienna, Austria, are experiencing symptoms like the brain illnesses experienced by staff at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in 2016, New Yorker magazine reported Friday. The symptoms include hearing high-pitched sounds, steady "pulses of energy" in the head, pain, nausea, dizziness, and several other "bizarre" sensations, the WebMD website said. The incidents...

Republican and Democratic (Senate) leaders said that incidents similar to the suspected “directed” radio frequency attacks on U.S. diplomats in recent years appear to be increasing. Sens. ( Mark Warner (D-Va.)) and Marco (R-Fla.) said they’ve been aware for nearly five years about mysterious attacks targeting U.S. government (officials in Havana Cuba) and elsewhere. Some have speculated that it may be a type of “sonic weapon,” and victims are said to develop illnesses known as “Havana syndrome.”“This pattern of attacking our fellow citizens serving our government appears to be increasing. The Senate Intelligence Committee intends to get to the bottom...

During 26 years at the CIA, Marc Polymeropoulos spent a lot of time in rough places, like war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. But he never suffered any harm until December 2017, when he was sound asleep at a Marriott Hotel in Moscow near the U.S. Embassy. "I was awoken in the middle of the night," recalled Polymeropoulos, 51. "I just had incredible vertigo, dizziness. I wanted to throw up. The room was spinning. I couldn't even stand up without falling down. I had tinnitus ringing in my ears." He suspected a bad case of food poisoning and carried on...