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The U.S. authorities quietly acquired a tool in late 2024 that officers consider could also be linked to the debilitating situation referred to as “Havana Syndrome,” which greater than 1,500 American officers have reported experiencing since 2016, in line with a number of sources briefed on the matter who spoke with CBS Information.
The system was bought clandestinely within the closing weeks of the Biden administration by the Division of Homeland Safety’s Homeland Safety Investigations division, utilizing Pentagon funding that exceeded eight figures, in line with two individuals acquainted with the matter. The system is moveable, backpack-sized, and comprises parts of Russian origin, the 2 individuals mentioned.
Three of the individuals mentioned the Pentagon has been testing the system, which emits pulsed, radio-frequency power, for greater than a yr, however didn’t supply particulars on the character of the exams. They mentioned the division’s investigators consider it might be able to reproducing the consequences described by victims of “Havana Syndrome,” a time period derived from the circumstances first reported by U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers in Havana, Cuba, in 2016. U.S. officers briefed a few of their findings to congressional oversight committees final yr.
Particulars concerning the U.S. acquisition of the system have been reported by impartial journalist Sasha Ingber and CNN.
The Pentagon and DHS didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. The CIA declined to remark.
Victims have reported a spectrum of neurological signs, together with extreme complications and head stress, vertigo, nausea, and ringing or popping sensations within the ears. Many have described listening to an intensely high-pitched, painful sound that appeared to subside after they moved to a different location. For some, the consequences have been so extreme that they have been in the end pressured to depart their jobs. Experiences of circumstances have emerged from each populated continent, spanning dozens of nations, and involving diplomats, intelligence officers, and army personnel.
Some Havana Syndrome victims have spent greater than a decade making an attempt to attract consideration to their circumstances, typically faulting their authorities employers for failing to supply significant help or entry to specialised medical care. Within the absence of official recognition, some resorted to paying out of pocket for costly diagnoses and coverings, and have described a way of isolation and marginalization as their situation went unacknowledged.
An preliminary U.S. intelligence evaluation accomplished in 2023 concluded it was “most unlikely” {that a} international adversary was liable for the sicknesses, which the Biden administration formally labeled “Anomalous Well being Incidents,” or AHIs. That conclusion was reaffirmed in an up to date assessment launched in January 2025, which discovered that a lot of the intelligence neighborhood continued to view international involvement as extremely inconceivable. Two businesses, nevertheless, revised their positions, saying there was a “roughly even likelihood” {that a} international adversary had developed a tool able to harming American officers and their households, whereas stopping wanting linking such a tool on to the reported AHIs.
The Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence has been conducting a assessment of the intelligence neighborhood’s earlier investigations of the incidents. Three individuals acquainted with the assessment informed CBS Information it’s largely full, however mentioned it has not but been briefed to lawmakers or ready for public launch.
An ODNI spokesperson mentioned Director of Nationwide Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard “stays dedicated to sharing findings from her investigation into Anomalous Well being Incidents with the American individuals.”
“Nonetheless, we aren’t going to hurry to place out incomplete info,” the spokesperson mentioned, noting a staff was persevering with “relentless” work on finishing the evaluation.
Former senior CIA intelligence officer Marc Polymeropoulos, who has spoken publicly of the signs he suffered after being struck in Moscow in 2017, criticized the businesses for what he mentioned have been disingenuous prior inquiries.
“The CIA all the time claimed that none of this know-how even existed, {that a} system did not exist, they usually primarily based their [assessments] on this,” he mentioned, “so their whole analytic assumptions are actually blown up.”
“A brand new, full analytic assessment is now warranted, and the DNI should name for one,” he mentioned.
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