Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

American officials in various places around the world have been plagued by mysterious symptoms.
And who is causing it?

Today, On Point: Havana Syndrome brings about sudden, mysterious brain injuries in American officials abroad. Why doesn't Washington know who's behind it yet?
Guests:
Adam Entous, staff writer at The New Yorker. (@adamentous)
Frank Figliuzzi, FBI assistant director for counterintelligence from 2010 to 2012. He served as a special agent for 25 years. NBC national security contributor. (@FrankFigliuzzi1)
Also Featured:
Marc Polymeropoulos, he served 26 years in the CIA before retiring from the Senior Intelligence Service in 2019. (@Mpolymer)
The truth behind the mysterious Havana Syndrome (WBUR, On Point pdcast, Nov 11, 2021)

Adam Entous tries to stay 'neutral', which is unfortunate in a podcast like this where the others are adamant that the U.S. diplomats and spies were attacked.

Polymeropoulous:

For many of the victims, it's deeply disturbing when they read an article saying that it's all psychogenic, we're all making stuff up or we have panic attacks. I mean clearly, that's not something that happened to me. And you know, I'm going to sound silly when I say this, but panic ain't in my DNA. I spent a lot of time in Iraq and Afghanistan. You can call me a lot of things, but I'm not one to panic. I did not have a panic attack in Moscow in December 2017. I can assure you that.

What's happening against these officials, like what happened to me, is what I call an act of war.

It does sound silly, but only because it is silly: If there's one thing you don't find in your DNA it's panic attacks. What is worse is that he actually seems to think that time spent in war zones somehow makes you immune to panic attacks. The history of shell shock/PTSD in war veterans tells us otherwise. His reference to time spent in Iraq and Afghanistan and being shot at is a reference to what may have caused his not-very-aptly-named syndrome.

So his assurance does nothing to convince people other than himself and maybe his former colleagues that what he experienced wasn't a panic attack. It only shows that he can't bear to think of himself as somebody to whom something as demeaning (in his opinion) as a panic attack could happen.

And it appears to me as if he would rather have the USA take on an imaginary enemy than consider that no enemy was involved in what happened to him.

That some of his colleagues, those from the original group of people in Havana, play recordings of crickets as evidence of an attack does not strengthen their case. By the way, it is unclear to me if Polymeropoulos claims to have heard anything or not:

To start, I didn't hear anything, but I had an incredible case of vertigo. So the room's spinning. I had a terrible headache, and that was called tinnitus. I'm ringing in my ears.

 

[dann]

I assume that this is supposed to be the alternative to Faraday cages and tinfoil hats:

Noble Biomaterials, creator of conductive energy textiles and advanced antimicrobial systems, announced this week that its Circuitex fabric and foam technologies are proven to reflect high-frequency energy waves similar to those suspected in Havana Syndrome attacks and produced by directed-energy weapons (DEW).
Force Field Up: Noble’s Circuitex Could Thwart ‘Havana Syndrome’ Energy Attacks (SourcingJournal, Nov 12, 2021)

I notice that, unlike many American politicians, the author of the piece includes the important word suspected.

 

[dann]

This is not at all reassuring:

The Air Force Research Laboratory confirmed plans to open up a new center for strategic studies into directed energy—like lasers and high-power electromagnetics applied to take out a specific target—in collaboration with the University of New Mexico.
Expected to go into full operation by 2025, the new hub will enable researchers to study and develop next-generation capabilities in that increasingly competitive technological realm.
“In August of this year, the Air Force released the Directed Energy Futures 2060 report that defines visions for directed energy and some aspects of electronic warfare with respect to technology development, military utility and proliferation,” AFRL Tech Engagement Office Director Matt Fetrow told Nextgov on Monday.
That report warns that the U.S. is now “moving aggressively to retain” leadership in directed energy, which it describes as a focused beam of electromagnetic energy that can be used by to disrupt or harm humans, devices, missiles, vehicles and other targets.
Experts expect the technology to play a major role in some future weapon systems. (Nextgov, Nov 10, 2021)

 

[dann]

As always, the CBS simply treats it as a fact that 'Havana Syndrome' is an attack. Here, Mike Morell, the host of a podcast. The name is so-called, the cause is unknown, but the alleged attacks are real, apparently. The only thing that needs to be done is to pin them on Putin, which is just a matter of time:

The other near-term issue is so-called Havana Syndrome. These attacks around the world against our intelligence officers and our diplomats. The cause of these attacks are unknown. We can't pin it on Russia at this point. We don't have enough evidence to do that, but everybody thinks it's Russia.
So Russia, all of a sudden is is at the top of the national security list again here. How do we think about deterring the Russians from going into Ukraine, from conducting these attacks? How should we think about dealing with Putin, I guess, is the fundamental question here?
Former Defense Secretary and CIA Director Leon Panetta on top security threats - "Intelligence Matters" podcast (CBS News, Nov 10, 2021)

 

[dann]

Apt title:

The injuries to US personnel are real, and the cause of the syndrome was not crickets—but excessive secrecy has frustrated investigators and the hampered victims’ efforts to understand this mysterious malady.
The Secrets of the So-Called “Havana Syndrome” (The Nation, Nov 13, 2021)

The article is mainly about which piece of information, which report, was published or withheld when and why, was redacted or not, who didn't get access to it etc. It doesn't really go into the arguments for and against different hypotheses but advocates that more information should be made public for the sake of the 'Havana Syndrome' sufferers as well as for the general public. Inquiring minds ...

 

[Orphia Nay]

I find this remarkable:
Anomalous Health Incidents and the Health Incident Response Task Force - FACT SHEET - OFFICE OF THE SPOKESPERSON (U.S. Department of State, Nov 5, 2021)

I am not yet sure, but this may indicate that the U.S. government has finally realized what it is dealing with - without admitting as much. It seems to be meant to calm down the people affected by the 'syndrome' by making them feel safe and sound and in good hands.

The following words are conspicuously absent from the document: attack - assault - enemy - actor - weapon - threat - danger - microwaves - frequency - sonic - energy - pulsed - brain damage - white matter tract (white and matter do occur, but not in a context that has anything to do with brains) - hearing loss.
Not even immaculate concussion is mentioned! Not once!

To me, it seems to be an attempt to make people stop being paranoid of covert attacks and start healing. I don't think that we will hear the Biden administration openly declare that this was a case of very badly managed mass psychogenic illness even though they do owe the Cubans an apology - and probably the Chinese and the Russians as well. First and foremost, the USA would lose face by openly admitting how unprofessionally this whole thing was handled, and it would also upset the frustrated diplomatic corps and the CIA to be told that this is all in their heads. Maybe in time, when almost everybody has calmed down, in a year or two, when only Marco Rubio and the revanchists in Miami still insist that this was an attack by evil adversaries, it may become necessary to confront them with the truth.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I think that this could be the beginning of the end of the 'Havana Syndrome'.

It mentions the HAVANA Act.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-state-department-defends-handling-havana-syndrome-2021-10-14/

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-signs-law-helping-havana-syndrome-victims/6263845.html

I would think that sharing $21 million with up to 200 people is the US just getting going with the silliness.

I guess it's not much each, though, so they're not judging the "illnesses" to be too serious.

 

[dann]

But even when it mentions the HAVANA Act, it still leaves out the word attack.
$100,000 is still a decent amount of money.
I don't think they ever judged the 'syndrome' to be too serious. The sufferers have been complaining about not being taken seriously.
The question is if the State Department, Pentagon and the CIA consider $21,000,000 a small price to pay for keeping up appearances, and they appear to do.

 

[Planigale]

It mentions the HAVANA Act.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-state-department-defends-handling-havana-syndrome-2021-10-14/

https://www.voanews.com/a/biden-signs-law-helping-havana-syndrome-victims/6263845.html

I would think that sharing $21 million with up to 200 people is the US just getting going with the silliness.

I guess it's not much each, though, so they're not judging the "illnesses" to be too serious.

My guess is this is cheaper than if 'they' are subsequently sued over misdiagnosis, creating a sickness inducing work environment, failure to provide appropriate treatment etc. It will be interesting if the money comes with a requirement to sign away the right to subsequently sue.

 

[dann]

Podcast teaser (3:55 min.):

Havana Syndrome
American diplomats are getting sick. In embassies across the world, a mysterious illness is hampering a superpower from doing business.

Why this story?
There are two competing theories about what might be causing the mysterious illness afflicting American diplomats and intelligence officers across the world. One sits in the realm of science fiction: a sophisticated weapon, using sound or microwaves, causing, in some cases, brain injury. The other, sits in the realm of the surreal: a psychogenic illness, in which the brain acts powerfully on the body and can create symptoms that spread, by the power of narrative, from person to person. Despite years of investigations, and now, a new taskforce set up by President Joe Biden, the cause remains unknown, and in the space of answers – a cocktail of suspicion, paranoia and pride.
Havana Syndrome - The mystery of the immaculate concussion (Tortoise Media, Oct 11, 2021)

I have only heard the teaser, but it is possible to listen to this and three more stories for free by signing up for their newsletter.

 

[dann]

Belen Fernandez does not mince her words:

While the officially sanctioned terminology for suspected syndrome-related episodes is “anomalous health incidents”, belligerent language involving “attacks” and the like is becoming increasingly normalised in the US political-media establishment. This should be of concern to anyone who cares that the US tendency to engage in aggressive and destructive behaviour abroad based on lies and fabrications is, well, hardly an anomaly.
Havana Syndrome: an act of war or just an act? (AlJazeera, Nov 15, 2021)

 

[The Atheist]

I had a thread somewhere several years ago about the rise of mass hysteria.

The "mysterious Havana Syndrome" seems to sit quite neatly in it.

If you tell people to expect invisible attacks, they will often claim to be victims of invisible attacks.

Of course, writing American staff off as paranoid hysterical wimps probably isn't good press.

 

[dann]

It not only wouldn't be good press, it would also make the 'syndrome' sufferers dig their heels in if you give them only the choice of thinking of themselves as either the victims of an attack or "paranoid hysterical wimps."

Now, I think it's pretty apparent that I am no fan of the CIA, but I doubt that their problem is that they are "paranoid hysterical wimps." As a case of mass psychogenic illness, it seems as if they are fairly typical, and coming down with mass psychogenic illness doesn't seem to have anything to do with being paranoid wimps in general or more prone to hysteria than anybody else. This is why I think that the fact sheet from the U.S. Department of State is the most sensible way to deal with the 'syndrome' sufferers in a way that enables them to get rid of their symptoms. It takes their symptoms seriously and doesn't doubt them, but it also doesn't confirm their favorite explanation: that they were attacked. In other words, it offers them a way out of the delusion - without describing it as a delusion.

I think that some of them will understand and appreciate this in time, but others will probably prefer to believe till their dying day that they are the victims of a Russian microwave attack. They have been left to believe this for a number of years by now, and they even seem to have formed a kind of support group where they confirm each other's delusions, much like a convention of UFO abductees.

 

[dann]

New YouTube interview with Robert Bartholomew:

It is one of the most extraordinary cases in the history of science: the mating calls of insects were mistaken for a “sonic weapon” that led to a major diplomatic row. Since August 2017, the world media has been absorbed in the “attack” on diplomats from the American and Canadian Embassies in Cuba. While physicians treating victims have described it as a novel and perplexing condition that involves an array of complaints including brain damage, the authors present compelling evidence that mass psychogenic illness was the cause of “Havana Syndrome.”

This mysterious condition that has baffled experts is explored across 11-chapters which offer insights by a prominent neurologist and an expert on psychogenic illness. A lively and enthralling read, the authors explore the history of similar scares from the 18th century belief that sounds from certain musical instruments were harmful to human health, to 19th century cases of “telephone shock,” and more contemporary panics involving people living near wind turbines that have been tied to a variety of health complaints. The authors provide dozens of examples of kindred episodes of mass hysteria throughout history, in addition to psychosomatic conditions and even the role of insects in triggering outbreaks.
Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria is a scientific detective story and a case study in the social construction of mass psychogenic illness.

Havana Syndrome: Mass Psychogenic Illness and the Real Story Behind the Embassy Mystery and Hysteria (MythVision Podcast, Nov 11, 2021 - 1:13:06)

In the context of this thread, it is interesting that Robert Bartholomew has come to the same conclusion I did when I read about the 1951 Pont-Saint-Esprit mass poisoning case, described in John G. Fuller's book, The Day of St. Anthony's Fire. In this thread, Checkmite insisted that it might have been a case of mass hysteria/mass psychogenic illness, but based on the description of what people did it hat French village back then, it was just too extreme compared to what usually happens in mass psychogenic illness. In Bartholomew's words: They went "stark raving crazy". Ergot poisoning makes much more sense as an explanation. (There is also no reason to resort to the LSD-poinsoning-by-the-CIA conspiracy theory as an explanation. The CIA has done a lot of bad things, but the agency hasn't done all bad things! )

 

[dann]

Alien Attack? Mass Hysteria? Conspiracy?

“When you tell people, ‘don’t report a sighting of something that’s odd or out of the norm because people will say ‘you’re crazy,’ or you’ll lose your credibility as an airman or as a naval aviator, you’re obviously not going to report it if something is wrong with your health. The same response was received with people who were experiencing Havana Syndrome,” she said, referring to the recent mysterious injuries experienced by diplomats and other personnel.
“The treatment with which our service members have been subjected is unacceptable,” Gillibrand added. “When this happens over and over in the military, people learn to keep their mouth shut.”
(...)
She has enlisted several co-sponsors from both parties, including Republicans Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Roy Blunt and fellow Democrat Martin Heinrich. “I don't see opposition to this on any level,” she said.
While she mostly couches her effort in national security terms, the former presidential candidate also acknowledges that the “sci-fi” implications of UFOs also compelled her to take action.
'This is urgent': Bipartisan proposal for UFO office pushes new boundaries - Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says in an exclusive interview she is concerned about the impact of encounters on military personnel. (Politico, Nov 17, 2021)

The days of staring at goats are over!

 

[dann]

What you could expect from The Heritage Foundation:

Vladimir Putin has always had a keen eye for opportunities. Now, as he surveys the West, it looks as if he smells blood in the water.

The American president, divisive and unpopular at home, has also proven inept and weak abroad. His administration’s lamentable policy blunders—caving on Nord Stream II (NS2), the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the failure to respond to the systematic Havana syndrome attacks on U.S. diplomats and intelligence officers—have sent signals of appeasement that have been read loud and clear in Moscow.
Sensing Western Weakness, Putin Gathers Strength in Europe (Heritage Foundation, Nov 18, 2021)

 

[dann]

It sure sounds like the logline for a Hollywood thriller. In late 2016, U.S. Embassy personnel in Havana, Cuba, began to report an unusual, perplexing set of symptoms. Loud noises accompanied by pain, pressure, or vibration. Dizziness, vertigo, and cognitive difficulties. Then personnel in the U.S. Consultate in Guangzhou, China, started complaining of similar symptoms. But this is not fiction. Indeed, as many as 200 people have experienced what has come to be known as Havana Syndrome. About half of them are CIA agents or their families, with the other half split between Departments of Defense and State employees. Today, many of them continue to suffer from health problems and the phenomenon appears to be spreading with new cases coming in from U.S. diplomatic sites around the globe.

Multiple hypotheses have been proposed to explain these clinical cases, but evidence is lacking and nothing has been proven. Given this lack of clarity, the U.S. government asked the National Academies to convene an expert panel to review the scientific evidence in support of the possible causes and provide advice on how to proceed with the official investigation. Join us for an intriguing conversation between the chair of that committee, Dr. David Relman, and writer/executive producer David Grae, as they review what we know—and what we don’t—about the mysteries of Havana Syndrome.
The Mysteries of Havana Syndrome (The Science & Entertainment Exchange, Nov 16, 2021 - 1:02:32)

It will be interesting to hear what Relman, who was the leader of the NAS study, has to say about the whole thing now, one year later and after the JASON report was declassified and published by BuzzFeed News.
But it's too late for me to listen to it tonight.

 

[dann]

Sabine Hossenfelder's YouTube videos are usually very good, but unfortunately she falls for the idea that the cases in Havana had actual brain damage. Her field of expertise is not neurology or even medicine. She is a physicist.
However, she remains undecided about the 'Havana Syndrome':

The Havana Syndrome was first reported in 2016, but by now more than two dozen cases have been reported all over the world, not only in Cuba but also in Russia, India, Austria and the USA. In this video, I go through the 3 most plausible explanations that have been put forward: mass hysteria, microwaves, and ultrasound, and discuss what speaks for and against them.
The 3 Best Explanations for the Havana Syndrome (Sabine Hosenfelder, Nov 20, 2021 - 14:24 min.)

 

[dann]

Declassified State Department review faults “lack of senior leadership,” “systemic disorganization” in response to unsolved health episodes
Tillerson State Department failed to conduct risk/benefit assessment before reducing Embassy staff
Report of Accountability Review Board confirms CIA closure of its Havana Station in September 2017
ARB investigation cited similar health incidents involving U.S. personnel in China and two other countries
(...)
Document 1
State Department, Accountability Review Board Report, "Havana, Cuba," SECRET/NOFORN, June 2018
Jun 1, 2018
U.S.-Cuba: Secrets of the 'Havana Syndrome' (National Security Archive, Feb 10, 2021)

Recent discussion: Explanations for the Havana Syndrome (Hacker News, Nov 21-22, 2021)

 

[dann]

The 'syndrome' has made it into TV crime fiction:

A driver is disabled and killed by a sonic weapon. Park's new husband Peter is concerned about her odd behavior. Red has summoned Dembe. Raymond brings up the Havana Syndrome, then mentions the Americans have developed their own directed-energy energy weapon, which has gone missing. Its inventor, Dr. Benjamin Okara, has also disappeared. All of Okara's team is in hiding. A second scientist is killed at a motel by Okara.
The Blacklist Season 9, Episode 5: Benjamin T. Okara (TV Fanatic, Nov 18, 2021)

As if it weren't fictitious enough as it is.

 

[Orphia Nay]

I don't know if you follow 9/11 conspiracy theories, but "directed energy weapons" bringing down the twin towers was one of the crazier theories.

Weapons you can't see, hear, or trace.