International Spyware Tradecraft Transformed Into Brain Assaults

"When James Lin, a professor at the University of Illinois, read the first reports about the mysterious sounds in Havana, he immediately suspected that microwaves were responsible. His belief was based not just on theoretical research, but first-hand experience. Decades earlier, he had heard the sounds himself."

"Since its emergence around World War Two, there had been reports of people being able to hear something when a nearby radar was switched on and began sending microwaves into the sky. This was even though there was no external noise. In 1961, a paper by Dr Allen Frey argued the sounds were caused by microwaves interacting with the nervous system, leading to the term the "Frey Effect". But the exact causes - and implications - remained unclear."

 

"The [United States's] interest in weaponizing microwaves extended beyond the end of the Cold War. Reports say from the 1990s, the US Air Force had a project codenamed "Hello" to see if microwaves could create disturbing sounds in people's heads, one called "Goodbye" to test their use for crowd control, and one codenamed "Goodnight" to see if they could be used to kill people. Reports from a decade ago suggested these had not proved successful." 

 

"'The brain is being seen as the 21st Century battle-scape', argues James Giordano, an adviser to the Pentagon and Professor in Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University, who was asked to look at the initial Havana cases. 'Brain sciences are global. It is not just the province of what used to be known as the West'. Ways to both augment and damage brain function are being worked on, he told the BBC. But it is a field with little transparency or rules."

"He says China and Russia have been engaged in microwave research and raises the possibility that tools developed for industrial and commercial uses - for instance to test the impact of microwaves on materials - could have been repurposed. But he also wonders if disruption and spreading fear were also the aim."

Gordon Corera, Security correspondent, BBC News

"I felt like I was being struck with something."

"Pain that I have never felt before in my life ... mostly in my head and in my eyes ... It was as if I had been seized by some invisible hand and I couldn't move."

"People don't understand what this kind of brain damage can do to you."

"So it's very easy for people to be dismissive and say, 'But you look fine.' But the reality is, I'm not."

"And I don't think very man of us are."

Tina Onufer, 2017 victim of 'Havana Syndrome'

 

United States Embassy in Havana, May 2021   Getty Images

 It wasn't just American diplomatic personnel that were targeted by some inexplicable, strange and terrifying attack on their consciousness, through a source that impacted their brains, giving them massive headaches, making them unable to concentrate through a 'fog', destabilizing their sense of balance, making them feel frail and incapable. Canadians stationed in Cuba in the Canadian Embassy in Havana too appeared to be targeted by this peculiar force that no one seemed able to identify.

From the time 'Havana Syndrome' first emerged in 2016, to the present, the strange phenomenon has been experienced elsewhere than Cuba now, claiming more victims, mostly Americans, and a reliable explanation for what has been happening doesn't appear any closer to being revealed than initially although their numbers have risen to several hundred afflicted people. Governments of those afflicted by this odd brain malady that renders its sufferers unable to take up their normal lives, appear to have no answers.

Just recently yet another instance of what appears to be microwave attacks was described by a victim, a career U.S. diplomat, as being seized by an "invisible hand", struck down by the mysterious syndrome. Yet another American diplomat informed that her brain had aged at least two decades, resulting from the illness she suffered so inexplicably. In the first of the attacks two dozen CIA officers spoke of buzzing in their heads and intense pressure in their skulls.

It was in Havana, Cuba in 2017 when Tina Onufer became a victim, one of what would become hundreds of U.S. officials abroad, including diplomats, intelligence operatives and military personnel. There were three victims that year; besides Ms.Onufer, Doug Ferguson and his wife Kate Husband, all describing the debilitating impact of the syndrome. For Ms. Onufer her career ended as a result of the syndrome's long-term impact.

Her two colleagues were also stationed in Havana when they became aware of a constant annoying sound that went on for weeks. "The way the doctor boiled it down for me ... he said, 'Well, it's like you aged 20, 25 years all at once'," stated Kate Husband. Retired on medical grounds, she still suffers from nausea and mental fogginess.

Although no one in the U.S. government has made any statements that might reveal causation, it would appear that these assaults are the result of intelligence-seeking experiments. Experiments that the U.S. itself engaged in, as did China and Russia, according to a bit of an expose that the venerable old BBC engaged in, in an attempt to clear up the mystery. Which leads to a conclusion of sorts that directed, pulsed radio waves once used for intelligence gathering is now being used as a weapon of intimidation.

Doctors, scientists, intelligence agents and government officials have all been trying to find out what causes "Havana syndrome" - a mysterious illness that has struck American diplomats and spies. Some call it an act of war, others wonder if it is some new and secret form of surveillance - and some people believe it could even be all in the mind. So who or what is responsible?

Havana Syndrome, Malicious Microwave Attacks

"[The Canadian government is trying to] sweep things away quietly and carry on as if there is nothing to see  here. What is being done is simply not good enough."

"I thought, all right then things are fine [told of no confirmed cases of Havana syndrome with Canadian diplomatic staff since 2018 in Cuba]. It has been almost three years since things happened. There is no apparent reason for concern."

"I had no idea. The department did not tell me about them [other 'incidents']. [Global Affairs] had been withholding and hiding information and being rather dishonest about the reality there and the risks."

"It is a perfect storm of privacy, security and bureaucratic inertia all coming together to make sure things don't happen."

"One would thnk the top priority would be to find out what it is that is potentially putting all of our international staff everywere in the world at risk and defend against it. Instead, they are choosing to leave their people to fend for themselves. Why?"

Top echelon Canadian diplomat (name withheld)

"There is no other explanation for it, considering he can identify the time and date of the attack and the symptoms are the same as every other case."

The lack of care, the lack of support from the government has been disgraceful. They are throwing these people under the bus."

Lawyer Paul Miller

A high-ranking Canadian diplomat in Cuba was flown home for assessment earlier this year after experiencing neurological symptoms consistent with Havana syndrome. The man, who the lawyer described as “high-ranking,” had only been posted in Cuba for a short time before the incident in February. Photo by Desmond Boylan /THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The mysterious, unseen, unheard, unexpected and little-understood attacks remain a mystery, even as they continue to re-occur, now not only in Havana, Cuba, but elsewhere in the world as well, wherever the U.S. and Canada have their diplomatic missions abroad. The attacks' origin is as unknown as is the uncertanty over the nature of the attacks themselves. What is no mystery is the great physical and psychological harm they cause to people innocent of any aggravating effect that might bring such punishing attacks upon them.

Research has been incapable of conclusively identifying the method of the attacks, what they are comprised of to render them so ubiquitous and effective, and who might be directing them to malevolent effect, much less why. Although uncertainty remains and many experts in the field of microwave energy are skeptical, U.S. investigations concluded Havana syndrome to result from targeted energy attacks. The whys and wherefores  unknown, much less the hows.

When it first emerged in Havana, striking American diplomats and members of their families, and then Canadians were also targeted, many observers suggested some type of hysteria was at play. Until patient studies revealed brain abnormalities caused by some type of blunt force trauma although there was no physical outer sign of anything amiss. People reported a sound reverberating in their heads and from that what emerged was imbalance, memory impact, headaches, dizziness and other critical brain function signals attesting to the reality of the attacks. Not psychosomatic as some suggested.

US Vice President Kamala Harris delayed her arrival in Hanoi after reports that US diplomats in the Vietnam capital may have experienced the mysterious illness dubbed "Havana Syndrome" EVELYN HOCKSTEIN POOL/AFP

Americal diplomatic personnel around the world have been affected by continued reports of Havana syndrome. Two American diplomats this week were evacuated from their posts in Vietnam following Havana syndrome attacks. In Canada, a high-ranking Canadian diplomat posted to Cuba was flown back to Canada for assessment early this year after undergoing an attack consistent with the syndrome.

His experience left him so devastated at the neurological symptoms he now suffers that he has become the latest in a string of Canadian diplomats to join a $28-million lawsuit brought against the government of Canada for neglect and abandonment of its employees. Before this man was posted to Cuba he was sent to Dalhousie University's Brain Repair Centre in Halifax for an assessment of his brain health.

Tests were conducted on his brain and cognitive functions. A routine of baseline testing that Canadian diplomats posted to Cuba since the concussion-like symptoms first appeared in 2017. There was no reason to be concerned he was told, no confirmed cases of Havana syndrome in Canadian diplomatic staff had occurred since 2018. Once in Cuba, however, his colleagues briefed him otherwise. Talk of 'incidents' since 2018 arose.

Russia and possibly China have developed technology capable of injuring brain and a US company made a prototype in 2004. A slide from the 60s or early 70s from a CIA briefing on microwave radiation. A microwave weapon has been suggested as a possible cause of ‘Havana Syndrome’ suffered by US officials. Photograph: Handout

 

One morning in February he felt his right ear begin reverberating: "It was like a ringing, but there was no sound", he explained. When it stopped after a minute he ran to the front door but there was no one about. In the days to follow his symptoms became more serious; distorted sound, echoing in one ear, ear pressure, and acute pain. Headaches developed and intensified pain in his ear and right side of his face. 

Flown out of Cuba back to Canada and on to Halifax for assessment, he underwent testing where he was unable to complete a balance test without falling over. Doctors identified inconsistency in his brain waves, but were unable to determine whether his was a case of Havana syndrome. He is still awaiting a definitive diagnosis. 

 

A physiotherapist he sought out treated what he diagnosed as a percussive force such as a targeted energy device that hit the man behind the right ear. Thanks to the treatment his symptoms were reduced, but vertigo and vision issues continue to emerge. "We are all on our own, so take care of yourself because Global Affairs is not going to", he was told by colleagues after he had arrived in Cuba. 

Multiple investigatons into the incidents were launched in the U.S. Some concluded the attacks were likely caused by the use of radio-frequency energy like microwave radiation. The Canadian government on the other hand has been silent about cases involving staff. A briefing was held in the spring to discuss plans to expand the Canadian mission in Cuba after staff was reduced in the wake of the original incidents.

Diplomats and their family members who suffer hearing, cognitive and balance issues are suing the federal government, with the claim that it had failed to protect them or to take adequate action to have them medically treated. The Canadian govrnment speaks of the "health, safety and security of ur diplomatic staff and their families is a priority", and that it is continuing to investigate the cause of Havana syndrome.

"At least two U.S. officials stationed in Germany sought medical treatment after developing symptoms of the mysterious health complaint known as Havana Syndrome, U.S. diplomats said."

"The symptoms, which included nausea, severe headaches, ear pain, fatigue, insomnia and sluggishness, began to emerge in recent months and some victims were left unable to work, the diplomats said. They are the first cases to be reported in a NATO country that hosts U.S. troops and nuclear weapons."

"U.S. diplomats said similar incidents had been registered among American officials stationed in other European nations, but declined to provide any detail."

Washington Post, 18 August 2021

The American Embassy in Berlin is investigating unexplained illness among U.S. staff posted in Germany.  Photo: Kay Nietfeld/DPA/Zuma Press

"American officials may have reason to fear Havana syndrome even on U.S. soil: In April, lawmakers on the House and Senate Armed Services committees said that there was an investigation into two potential Havana-like attacks in the States, including one reported instance involving a National Security Council official just south of the White House. In August, Vice-President Kamala Harris’s trip from Singapore to Vietnam was delayed after the U.S. embassy in Hanoi warned of a “report of a recent possible anomalous health incident,” the language that government officials use to describe Havana syndrome symptoms. While the symptoms have predominantly hit Americans, several Canadian officials have also reported experiencing Havana syndrome. In April, nine Canadian diplomats wrote to the foreign affairs minister saying they were struggling to get information from the government on their cases. Canadian Global Television Network reported at the time that there had been more than two dozen cases among Canadian officials."

Intelligencer

Canadian Diplomats Suing Their Government

"Throughout the crisis, Canada downplayed the seriousness of the situation, hoarded and concealed critical health and safety information, and gave false, misleading and incomplete information to diplomatic staff."
"[Global Affairs] actively interfered with the plaintiffs' attempts to receive proper health care, including going so far as instructing hospitals to stop testing and treating them."
"Despite knowing of the risks of Havana Syndrome early on, Canada continued to put its diplomats and their families in harm's way by sending them to Havana and requiring them to stay there despite becoming aware of the high and growing risk that they would sustain the brain injuries associated with Havana Syndrome."
Statement of Claim, $28-Million Lawsuit

"We knew there was something [happening] but we just couldn't figure out what was going on. Living in Cuba [as diplomatic staff] we understood that our houses were bugged."
"It just hit me, 'Holy crap, this [symptoms such as nausea, headaches, nosebleeds, hearing and eye problems from an unknown source] is going on in my house'."
"At the low point, I thought I was going to throw up. I was nauseous like you wouldn't believe. I don't know whether I went back to sleep or passed out."
Diplomat Allan (names withheld)

"My belief 21 months later is that decisions were made that simply did not prioritize us, not our health, not our safety and not that of our families."
"I am angry, yes. I am disappointed and I am sad. I am sad because there is no justification for not having considered the personal and lifelong impact this was going to have on us."
Diplomat Baker (generic names used for anonymity)

A view of the Canadian Embassy in Havana, Cuba, on Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009. (Franklin Reyes/Associated Press)

Five Canadian diplomats assigned to posts in Cuba, and 14 of their family members have filed a law suit against the federal government resulting from the mysterious illness they suffered while posted to Cuba and living in Havana. According to the suit the Canadian government which is responsible for the well-being of all Canadians and in particular their staff abroad, failed to inform, protect, treat and support them at a time of need.

Canadian families in Havana, the lawsuit states, "have been targeted and injured, suffering severe and traumatic harm by means that are not clear but may be some type of sonic or microwave weapon". And nor have Canadians been the sole targets. In fact American diplomats have been exposed and have suffered identical symptoms and injuries in their posting to Cuba. The affliction they all suffer from is now known as Havana Syndrome.

The government of Cuba claims to be just as mystified regarding the source of the syndrome as the U.S. and Canadians. Co-operation between all three governments to find the source of the problem has been welcomed, but no answers to the questions have resulted. The United States decided to dramatically reduce the number of diplomatic staff until such time as the matter can be more fully understood. It took Canada quite a while longer to decide not to permit family members to accompany diplomatic staff assigned to Cuba to accompany them.

Two years ago healthy diplomatic staff and their family members were beginning to experience peculiar symptoms; nosebleeds, headaches that appeared to have no explanation. Excruciating headaches would afflict them upon waking in the morning followed by nausea and problems with vision. The Allen family received no warning or information from the embassy or from Global Affairs, but a neighbouring U.S. diplomat who knew of the problem and whose own experience echoed that of the Allens, disclosed the situation to him.

Their feelings of fear, extreme irritability, nausea, headaches, nosebleeds had an unknown cause, but the situation was known to those who had earlier gone through the trauma. At the point when Allen was informed he was also told that a dozen Americans had been evacuated from Havana once it was ascertained that something strange was causing them to suffer those headaches, nosebleeds, hearing and eye problems. The Americans too were sworn to secrecy about the issue.

Eventually the Allen family was sent to the University of Miami for testing. A doctor there had examined about twenty Americans with similar symptoms, who had also been based in Havana. He diagnosed all four members of the Allen family with traumatic brain injuries similar to symptoms from concussions, recommending the children not return to Cuba: "They need to be away from Cuba for awhile".

Yet according to the lawsuit the Canadian embassy refused to send the Allen children back to Canada. The very fact that the Canadian diplomatic staff who knew about the situation were ordered to be silent about the issue, not to discuss anything with other staff newly arrived, knowing nothing of what was transpiring, did not impress these newly-diagnosed Canadians very positively.

Another diplomatic family, Diplomat Davies, wife and two young children were experiencing strange things in their house in Havana in the spring and summer of 2017 where the young daughter was increasingly unable to concentrate at school, suffering from nausea, tinnitus, sensitivity to light, visual impairment and sudden nosebleeds. Mrs. Davies lost her sense of balance, reported hearing high-pitched sounds. "I no longer knew where was up and where was down", she informed her husband after a strange fall.

She was diagnosed with damage to her vestibular system; parts of the inner ear and brain that process sensory information, was hypersensitive to light and noise, suffered from headaches, dizziness and muscle twitching. By all these accounts it is manifest that the government of Canada has failed in its obligation to its employees, to keep them safe from harm and to respond to their needs. The diplomats and their families are now undergoing tests at Dalhousie University's Brain Repair Centre.

The research and tests there have pointed out leakages in their blood brain barriers consistent with symptoms of concussions. When Global Affairs appeared to hesitate about the need to ensure that these people were given swift medical attention, several of the families travelled to University of Pennsylvania after officials there had offered to assess and treat Canadians, but the offer was turned down by the federal government.

All sound reasons to demand attention and remedial action, even if it was recognized that such would only be forthcoming through the compelling action of a lawsuit.