It’s called the Havana Syndrome and it involves Americans experiencing a variety of physical and health symptoms, and experts think it may be caused by deliberate microwave or sonic attacks from enemies of the United States.
The Havana Syndrome acquired its name because it was notably documented at the U.S. embassy in Havana, Cuba, and it’s been reported by U.S. representatives in other parts of the world.
And now, inside the United States.
Gatestone Institute distinguished senior fellow Gordon G. Chang explained one such attack even was reported on the grounds of the White House.
“We should not be surprised. Failure to impose costs on known sonic attackers — the Cuban and Chinese regimes — almost certainly emboldened the perpetrators to think they could harm Americans in America,” he wrote recently.
He explained two attacks on American soil have involved National Security Council officials, one on the White House’s south lawn, the Ellipse, last November and another after Thanksgiving in 2019 in Arlington, Virginia.
The Daily Wire reported that the White House now has acknowledged such attacks, and said it is investigating.
White House press secretary Jan Psaki on Friday confirmed the nation’s agencies are “investigating incidents in which personnel have reported experiencing sensory phenomena, such as sound pressure or heat, concurrent with or followed by physical symptoms, such as sudden onset vertigo, nausea, and head or neck pain.”
“At this point — at this moment, we don’t know the cause of these incidents, which are both limited in nature and the vast majority of which have been reported overseas. So right now we are working to investigate, taking every report seriously, and our national security team is overseeing that process,” she said.
The Daily Wire explained, “In the past few years, there have been several incidents affecting U.S. embassy personnel, including two that made diplomats in Cuba sick — prompting the nickname ‘Havana syndrome.’ ‘Dozens of Americans have been diagnosed with a range of symptoms, including traumatic brain injuries, with several describing bizarre experiences like strange noises and sensations. The U.S. government has acknowledged cases in Cuba, China, Uzbekistan and Russia — but there are media reports of other countries now, too,’ ABC News reported.”
Psaki said she didn’t have “specifics” on incidents that happened inside the United States.
But Chang explains as many as 40 U.S. officials already have been affected by such attacks.
And NBC reported just months ago, “Many reported hearing a loud sound and feeling pressure in their heads, and then experienced dizziness, unsteady gait, and visual disturbances. Many suffered longstanding, debilitating effects.”
In one case, a CIA officer ended up with “traumatic brain injury,” the report said.
So far reports of the problem have been documented in China, Cuba, Russia, Europe, the Middle East and South America.
Chang reported, “There are also unconfirmed reports of similar brain disorders of corporate employees. The disorders were suffered while the employees were in China, even on short-term visits.”
He noted the National Academy of Sciences has found that “directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy” is the most probable cause of reported symptoms.
Chang said officials properly explain the attack sources are hard to track and “difficult” to attribute, and the possible courses “can be small and portable.”
“All this is true. Nonetheless, American officials have no excuse, as there is virtually no question as to the identity of some of the attackers,” he said. “American diplomats in late 2016 were sonic-attacked in Cuba’s capital city, showing symptoms — vertigo, ringing ears, nausea, memory loss, and other ailments — similar to those of the more recent cases. The incident is so well known that there is now a phrase for the effects of directed-energy attacks: Havana Syndrome.”
He continued, “Or perhaps one should call it the Guangzhou Disease. In spring 2018, American diplomats assigned to the consulate in that southern Chinese city suffered brain injuries after being hit with microwaves or something similar.”
He suggested in the totalitarian regimes in China and Cuba, no one would be able to launch such attacks without government knowledge, and perhaps participation.
“Unfortunately, neither the Obama nor Trump administrations imposed costs on Cuba or China. With such direct attacks on the U.S. going unpunished, how could American enemies not now be tempted to use their new weapons on American soil?” he said.
Richard Fisher, of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, told Chang if there is no response to smaller attacks, why would there not be, at a future point, something larger.
“Imagine microwave weapon trucks on the bluffs overlooking the Pentagon,” Fisher, a leading China military expert, said.
“The incidents are indeed ‘puzzling’ as CNN correctly termed them at the end of last month, but Washington, as described above, should know who at least some of the culprits are. The real mystery is why the U.S. still has not done anything to protect its officials and citizens,” Chang said.
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