Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials are trying to figure out what causes Havana Syndrome, a mysterious disease that plagues US diplomats and spies. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it’s some new and secret form of surveillance – and some people think it’s all in these people’s heads. But who or what is responsible?
It often begins with a sound that people try to describe. “Buzzing”, “grinding metal”, “piercing screams” are the best definitions that victims can give. One woman described low buzzing and strong pressure in her skull; another – throbbing pain. Those who do not hear sound feel heat or pressure. But for those who hear the “buzzing”, covering the ears does not matter. Some of the people who survived the syndrome had dizziness and fatigue for months.
Havana syndrome first appeared in Cuba in 2016. The first cases were among CIA employees, which means that they are kept secret. But eventually it was heard, and the anxiety spread. Twenty-six employees and family members reported a wide variety of symptoms. There are also rumors that some colleagues consider the sufferers of the “Havana syndrome” to be crazy, and everything is “just in their head.”
Five years later, there are hundreds of victims, and according to the BBC, they cover every continent, having a real impact on the US ability to operate abroad. Revealing the truth has now become a top priority for the country’s national security – one that an official has identified as the most difficult intelligence challenge they have ever faced.
The hard evidence is elusive, making the syndrome a battleground for competing theories. Some consider it a psychological illness, others a secret weapon. But more and more evidence is focusing on microwaves as the most likely culprit.
In 2015, diplomatic relations between the United States and Cuba were restored after decades of hostility. But within two years, the Havana Syndrome nearly closed the U.S. embassy as staff were withdrawn due to concerns about their well-being.
Initially, there was speculation that the Cuban government – or a hardline faction that opposes better relations – could be held responsible by using some kind of sonic weapon. After all, Cuba’s security services were nervous about the influx of American personnel and held the capital tight.
This theory was rejected as cases began to appear around the world.
Recently, another possibility has emerged in the framework – one whose roots lie in the dark depths of the Cold War and a place where science, medicine, espionage and geopolitics collide.
When James Lynn, a professor at the University of Illinois, read the first reports of the mysterious sounds in Havana, he immediately suspected that microwaves were behind it. His faith is based not only on theoretical research, but also on first-hand experience. Decades earlier, he had heard the sounds himself.
Since its appearance around World War II, there is evidence of people being able to hear something when a nearby radar is turned on and begins to send microwaves into the sky. This happens even though there is no external noise. In 1961, a report by Dr. Alan Frey claimed that the sounds were caused by microwaves interacting with the nervous system, which led to the term “Frey effect.” But the exact causes, as well as the consequences, remained unclear.
In the 1970s, Professor Lynn began conducting his experiments at the University of Washington. In his experiments, he sat on a wooden chair in a small room lined with absorbent materials, with the pineapple pointing to the nape of his neck. He holds a switch in his hand. Outside, his colleague sends microwave pulses through the antenna at random intervals. If Professor Lynn heard a sound, he pressed the key.
An impulse sounds like a zipper or a snapping finger. A series of impulses – like the chirping of a bird. They were produced in his head, not like sound waves coming from outside. Prof. Lynn believes that energy is absorbed by the soft brain tissue and converted into a pressure wave moving in the head, which is interpreted by the brain as sound. This occurs when high-power microwaves are delivered as pulses rather than in the continuous low-power form used by modern microwave ovens or other devices.
Professor Lynn remembers making sure the frequency wasn’t too high. “I didn’t want my brain to be damaged,” he told the BBC.
In 1978, Prof. Lynn found that there were people who were interested in his work. He received an unusual invitation to discuss his latest article from a group of scientists who had conducted their own experiments.
During the Cold War, science was the focus of intense rivalry between superpowers. Even areas such as mind control have been explored, amid fears of the other enemy gaining an advantage. And that includes microwaves.
Prof. Lin cites the Soviet approach and the research center in the city of Pushchino, near Moscow, as an example. “They had a very complex, very well-equipped laboratory,” he recalled. But their experiment is rougher than his. The subject is standing in a drum with salty sea water, his head sticking out of it. Then the microwaves are fired into his brain. Scientists believe that microwaves interact with the nervous system and want to question Professor Lynn about his alternative view.
Curiosity comes from both directions – American spies are closely following Soviet research. A 1976 report by the US Defense Intelligence Agency, released by the BBC, said the agency could not find evidence of microwave weapons from the Communist bloc, but said it had learned of experiments in which microwaves pulsed in the frogs’ throats until their hearts stop.
The report also reveals that the United States is concerned that Soviet microwaves could be used to impair brain function or to cause sounds that could have a psychological effect. “Their study of internal sound perception has great potential to develop into a system for disorienting or disrupting the behavior patterns of military or diplomatic personnel.”
However, the American interest is more than protection against the enemy. James Lynn occasionally reviews references to US secret weapons work in the same area.
While Professor Lynn was in Pushchino, another group of Americans nearby worried that they had been attacked with microwaves, and that their own government had covered up what had happened. For almost a quarter of a century, the 10-story U.S. embassy in Moscow has been attacked by a wide, invisible beam of low-level microwaves. This became known as the “Moscow signal”. But for many years, most of the workers inside knew nothing.
The beam comes from an antenna on the balcony of a nearby Soviet apartment and hits the upper floors of the embassy, where the ambassador’s office is located. It was first spotted in the 1950s and was later observed from a room on the 10th floor. But its existence is a secret, strictly guarded by all but a few embassy staff. “We were trying to figure out what his goal might be,” said Jack Matlock, embassy number two in the mid-1970s.
But the new ambassador, Walter Stoesel, who arrived in 1974, threatened to resign unless the information was shared. “It caused something like panic,” Matlock recalled. Embassy staff, whose children went to kindergarten in the basement, are particularly worried. But the State Department rejects any risk.
Then Ambassador Stoesel himself became ill, and one of his symptoms was bleeding from his eyes. In a now declassified telephone conversation from 1975 to the Soviet ambassador to Washington, US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger linked Stoesel’s illness to microwave frequencies, admitting “he was trying to keep things quiet.” Stoesel died of leukemia at the age of 66. “He decided to be a good soldier, not make a fuss,” his daughter told the BBC.
Since 1976, screens have been installed to protect people. But many diplomats remained angry, believing that the State Department was silent at first and then resisted acknowledging any possible health effects. This statement was repeated decades later with Havana Syndrome.
What is Moscow’s signal about? “I’m sure the Soviet Union had other intentions besides harming us,” Matlock said. They are ahead of the United States in surveillance technology, and one theory is that they emit microwave frequencies from their windows to eavesdrop on conversations, activate their own eavesdropping devices hidden in the building, or acquire information through microwaves striking American electronic devices. . At one point, the councils told Matlock that the goal was actually to clog American equipment on the roof of the embassy used to intercept Soviet communications in Moscow.
This is a world of surveillance and counter-surveillance, so secret that even in embassies and governments, only a few people know the big picture.
One theory is that a much more targeted method has been used in Havana to perform some kind of observation with directional microwaves at higher power. A former British intelligence official told the BBC that microwaves could be used to “illuminate” electronic devices for signal extraction or identification and tracking. Others suggest that a device (perhaps even an American one) may have been poorly designed or damaged and caused a physical reaction in some people. However, US officials say no device has been identified or found.
After a lull, the cases began to spread outside Cuba. In December 2017, Mark Polymeropolos awoke suddenly in a Moscow hotel room. As a senior CIA official, he is in town to meet with his Russian counterparts. “My ears were buzzing, my head was spinning. I felt like I was going to vomit. I couldn’t stand up,” he told the BBC. “It was horrible.”
It comes a year after the first cases in Havana, but the CIA’s medical office tells him that his symptoms do not match the Cuban cases. A long battle for medical treatment begins. Severe headaches never go away and in the summer of 2019 he is forced to retire.
Polymeropolos initially thought it had been hit by some technical surveillance tool that was “too high”. But when more cases appeared in the CIA that he said involved people working in Russia, he began to believe he had been attacked with a weapon.
Then there are cases in China, including at the consulate in Guangzhou in early 2018.
Some of those affected in China are linked to Beatrice Golomb, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, who has long studied the effects of microwaves on health and other unexplained diseases. She told the BBC that she wrote to the State Department’s medical team in January 2018 with a detailed report on why she believes microwaves are at the root of the cases. “This is an interesting read,” was the government’s non-committal response.
Prof. Golomb says high levels of radiation have been reported among family members of staff in Guangzhou using available equipment. “The arrow came out of the top of the available readings,” she said. However, the State Department told its own employees that the measurements made to them were secret.
