Hundreds of US diplomats sickened by mysterious disease
Ambassadors and CIA agents are fainting and the Biden administration has seen what is happening as “Kremlin superweapons” and announced an investigation.
The emergence of the “Havana syndrome”
Signs of unhealthy behaviour have been recorded by US diplomats and intelligence officials since 2016. The first symptoms were noticed by embassy officials in Cuba. In 2015, diplomatic relations between the US and Cuba resumed – and dozens of diplomats arrived on the Liberty Island. However, embassy staff began to hear a grinding noise in their heads, a sharp squeal, and they were getting worse. Soon workers at other US embassies from more than 12 countries were already complaining of feeling unwell. One day a person might be well, but by evening they were off their feet. All the complaints were summarised in a single table.
But at first the incidents were not given much attention, they were put down to overwork or gadget addiction. The data on the complaints of 26 diplomats and CIA officers was classified just in case. But rumours of a secret illness began to circulate. And a few days ago, the mysterious incidents were brought together by US intelligence agencies. CIA Director William Joseph Burns nicknamed what was happening AHI – almost like a UFO, it stands for Anomalous Health Incident, which can be translated as abnormal health damage or abnormal medical case. And we had to find someone to blame.
It was all the Russians’ fault.
In a CIA report released earlier this year, technology experts say they “cannot rule out foreign interference in two dozen cases. What’s more, they believe the diplomats were victims of microwaves, or rather weapons that use wave radiation directed at the brain. The report was aired by US national broadcaster NBC, which drew an uncomplicated parallel between foreign interference and Russia.
It’s all the Russians’ fault
In a CIA report released earlier this year, technology experts say they “cannot rule out foreign interference in two dozen cases”. What’s more, they believe the diplomats were victims of microwaves, or rather weapons that use wave radiation directed at the brain. The report was aired by the US national broadcaster NBC, which drew an uncomplicated parallel between foreign interference and Russia.
There is not a single conclusive fact in the report, but there is a clear conclusion. The logic was that the disease is unclear but may have been caused by microwave radiation, there is theoretically a device that emits microwaves, although no one has ever seen this device or knows its circuitry, but there is a long-standing hypothesis from US intelligence that the Russians may have been studying directed energy technology. These were theories without facts. But there is a fact nonetheless: the CIA director flew to Moscow – last November.
A logical person would draw two conclusions from this amount of information. First: even experts can come up with a lot of fantastic theories based on fiction of the 50s. The second: the head of the CIA uses the plane and negotiates with the Russians. But NBC journalists draw a different conclusion: “The Russians are probably to blame, because the symptoms cannot be explained otherwise, and it’s not psychosomatic”. US President Joe Biden then reacts to the report and announces an investigation into the “Havana syndrome”. From 1 February he introduces into his administration the rather mystical position of “coordinator of abnormal medical incidents”.
Are there mysterious microwave weapons?
The Russian authorities have stated that they have nothing to do with the “Havana syndrome”. Moreover, similar symptoms have been shown in hundreds of people around the world from China to Russia. But the US intends to get to the bottom of this and is likely to fuel a new myth in society about bloodthirsty Kremlin spies with mysterious sonic or microwave weapons. And this weapon has indeed been under development by both Russia and the United States since the middle of the last century.
Officially, it is called a radio-frequency weapon – it affects the brain using ultra-high or very low frequencies. Academician Andrei Sakharov is credited with pioneering the development of microwave weapons. In the mid-1950s, Sakharov first proposed applying his principle to create an electromagnetic bomb. Such frequencies could destroy electronics. The Americans were not squeamish about using this weapon: during the Gulf War, their “Stinger” missiles were equipped with radio frequency charges which disable enemy radars.
Radio-frequency weapons can also destroy or shoot down drones, shoot down aircraft, burn electronics. And there are prototypes in the armies of both countries – Russia and the US. But more often they are used for defensive purposes (e.g. as jammers) and never officially used against people in combat. Because a directed microwave wave can literally and figuratively fry a person’s brain.
At the same time, while Russia has no microwave developments directed against people, the U.S. has such developments. For example, the Americans have developed the Silent Guardian. Silent Guardian is an electromagnetic oscillation generator. It looks like a huge satellite dish mounted on an armoured vehicle. Its job is to disperse crowds of people: the microwave radiation acts as a shockwave and, if not incinerates, it slightly bakes the human brain.
When exposed to the frequencies, people experience panic attacks, severe headaches and disorientation. Does it remind you of anything? Maybe “Havana syndrome”? But American experts are unlikely to accept the obvious facts in elaboration, and will develop the idea of insidious Russians who sneaked into their embassies and started irradiating everybody. The spy game is just beginning. And no one has brought up climate weapons yet. It is a ground for speculations there too.
Fedor Ivanov, LIFE