Merged US may close Cuba Embassy over 'health attacks'

[dann]

New Baloh & Bartholomew article

In post 2,287, I mentioned an article by Jon Stone and Kenneth Foster in Scientific American.

Robert Baloh and Robert Bartholomew have now criticized it in RealClearScience:
Havana Syndrome: Finally Putting the Myth to Rest (RealClearScience, July 1, 2024)
I can recommend the article, but at this point I doubt that anything can put to myth to rest. Too many people are interesting in keeping the myth alive.

For a recent webinar, Kenneth Foster wrote this:

My Take On The Issue
* No evidence has been made public for microwaves (or any other physical agent) as cause of AHI even in the "core cases"
* Neurologists who interviewed some AHI victims are convinced that something "real" had happened leading to vestibular related symptoms.
* BUT mass psychogenic illness is a well established and common phenomenon, seems to explain the facts of the matter.
* MPI seems like a more probable explanation.
Havana Syndrome - an IEEE perspective (IEEE Future Networks, June 26, 2024)

However, since Kenneth Foster keeps getting "persistent hints (!) from sources with clearance that something (!) important (!) is not being disclosed to the public," he defers "judgment for the present." (From X)
I prefer to base my conclusions on the facts that we do have access to instead of on alleged facts that sources with clearance claim exist. Similar claims are made by other fans of the attack idea, e.g. 'Havana Syndrome' lawyer Mark Zaid and retired army lieutenant colonel Greg Edgreen: The evidence for their claims actually does exist, they say, but unfortunately they are not allowed to reveal it. What they present as evidence instead is always pathetic and doesn't even make it seems likely that the symptoms of 'Havana Syndrome' are combat injuries.

As for the idea "that something "real" had happened leading to vestibular related symptoms," real things leading to vestibular-related symptoms happen all the time:

What causes vestibular disorders?
Causes of vestibular dysfunction include:
* Aging: The structures within your inner ear that receive and send balance signals to your brain can deteriorate as you age.
* Head injuries: Trauma from a head injury can damage your inner ear or parts of your brain involved in your vestibular system.
* Exposure to toxins: Ototoxicity is when a medicine you’re taking damages your inner ear. It’s one of the most common causes of vestibular dysfunction. Chemicals in the environment (like lead) can also damage your inner ear.
* Inflammation: Inflammation can damage the organs and nerves in your inner ear involved in balance. Sometimes, the inflammation results from a viral or bacterial infection.
* Problems with inner ear fluid (endolymph): Fluid inside your inner ear shifts in response to your head movements. The shifting activates nerves that communicate information about your position to your brain. Problems with the fluid can disrupt the signal, causing vestibular system problems.
* Tumors: Growths, including tumors, can impact the nerves that help you maintain your balance.
* Autoimmune diseases: Although it’s rare, an autoimmune disease can cause your immune system to attack your inner ear.
* Neurological conditions: Conditions that impact your nerves and CNS can disrupt your balance. Stroke is a common cause of central vestibular dysfunction. Other causes include conditions that damage the protective covering of your nerves (demyelinating diseases).

Triggers of vestibular disorders
Some vestibular disorders involve episodes where you experience symptoms like dizziness and vertigo, followed by periods where you don’t experience symptoms at all. In these instances, “triggers” may start or worsen an episode. Triggers may include:
* Changes in your environment (like entering a “busy,” visually stimulating place).
* Sudden head movements or changes in position (like lying back in bed).
* Certain foods and drinks.
* Lack of sleep.
* Stress.
Your healthcare provider can help you identify factors that trigger or intensify symptoms.
Vestibular Disorders (Cleveland Clinic)

Russians with ray guns don't seem to be one of them.

 

[Armitage72]

The latest Skeptical Inquirer has an article that's also available to read online.

Smoke and Mirrors: The 60 Minutes ‘Breakthrough’ on Havana Syndrome Exposed
Robert Bartholomew

 

[dann]

As for Smoke & Mirrors, see post 2,212. (A Danish skeptic sent me a copy of the article yesterday. Apparently, articles in Skeptical Inquirer sometimes appear online several months before they are published in the magazine.)

Daily Dot also picked up the story mentioned in post 2,299:

Shvet's theory was quickly mocked online as a ridiculous example of people struggling to understand why an 81-year-old man might have a bad debate night.
The latest excuse for Biden's poor debate performance: Havana Syndrome (July 1, 2024)

 

[dann]

Another old story I find more interesting is this one from April 6, i.e. one week after CBS 60 Minutes and The Insider's resurrection of the 'syndrome':

New reporting by “60 Minutes” puts a spotlight again on Havana Syndrome, the debilitating neurological symptoms reported by U.S. government security agents and diplomats around the world.
0:00 The Havana Syndrome Mystery / No Labels Drops Its 2024 Bid
5:07 The Symptoms
9:56 More Information From the Government
The Havana Syndrome Mystery (Wall Street Journal Opinion on YouTube, April 6, 2024 - 15:17 min.)

Kyle Peterson: A couple of things that come to mind on the point about getting more information out and especially more information from the government:
One is the allegations including those that you heard in those clips we played from 60 Minutes of electronic and physical changes to a cell phone battery or a computer screen. Something like that that is reportedly coming along with these physical effects because that's something that could shed light on what's going on here. And notable to me that there was a claim that there was an effect on a cell phone. And the 60 Minutes report, as far as I saw, did not show the cell phone or provide any more backup on that.
Two is, Alicia, if there is some sort of energy weapon that is being deployed against U.S. personnel, I start to wonder whether there are similar reports in Ukraine, in Germany, in the UK - places where Russian agents have committed or attempted assassinations or among Russian dissidents. I mean, I know our intelligence and reporting out of that country is limited in some respects, but I imagine if Russia has some kind of secret weapon that we're unaware of that it would be deployed against other people other than American agents.

Alicia Finley: I think that that's very possible. And the Russians, on the other hand, could just be gaslighting the Americans and saying, 'See this is what we could do if you guys escalate in some fashion'.
And just going back to that National Institutes of Health study: There were numerous shortcomings in this study that were actually pointed out in an accompanying editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association. And for one, just because there was no actual damage shown on MRIs in the brain, that doesn't necessarily mean that there wasn't actual physical damage that was done. In fact, many of these scans were taken over years after the symptom onset, and what we know is that when there's brain damage, for instance from a concussion, actually, that doesn't always necessarily show up months or years later even though there is actual damage done. There are certain actual blood proteins that can measure. And, in fact, what they have found in other studies is that many of these victims have actually shown a spike in these certain proteins that do evince damage.
We also know that if there were some kind of energy weapon an electric magnetic pulse, which is now one of the culprits that is being speculated, that that can affect all kinds of neurological sensations, neurological symptoms. And we know that because there are actually scientists who are studying how to use these kind of electromagnetic impulses to actually treat various conditions without actually doing damage to the brain, but we do know that this is a plausible explanation not withstanding the NIH's studies which I think were kind of one not just flawed but really just kind of dismissive of these patients' concerns. And I think we've seen that in other contexts where the NIH, at least in the editorial in the JAMA, also mentioned that Long Covid and chronic fatigue syndrome are a couple of other areas in which they haven't necessarily been able to pin down an exact cause, the NIH, despite studying this. But nonetheless there are patients clearly suffering physical symptoms of something and more study is really warranted.

It is infuriating that not one single journalist delves into the question of these "certain actual blood proteins." It is particularly infuriating when we hear the story about the poor victims having "actually shown a spike in these certain proteins that do evince damage."
Repeated use of "in fact" and "actual" doesn't make up for the lack of investigative journalism or even journalistic curiosity. What exactly are these "certain actual blood proteins"? We aren't told!
My guess is that they are "the two biomarkers NfL and GFAP [which] can also be found in blood samples from people who suffer from stress-related exhaustion," as I have mentioned several times in this thread, most recently in post 1,590.

It shouldn't surprise anyone that GFAP and NfL were first mentioned by one (or both?) of David Relman's groups, NASEM and the 'expert panel', although it is slightly surprising that groups of alleged experts didn't emphasize that NfL and GFAP don't "evince [brain!] damage" but might indicate mere exhaustion.

It should also be pointed out that the "the editorial in the JAMA" was the work of none other than the same David Relman, the guy who doesn't even understand how simple sound works. See post 1,590. (And since Long Covid is mentioned in WSJ's YouTube video, I think it's worth pointing out that David Relman is also one of the proponents of the lab-leak theory.)

 

[dann]

Apropos of GFAP and NfL as biomarkers for 'Havana Syndrome'

The Veterans Health Administration had a webinar in May:
Situational Awareness of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHI) for Providers (WarRelatedIllness.va.gov, May 14, 2024)

2 chronic issues were vestibular and cognitive, feasible but limitations to get a cross- sectional NP battery for vestibular and cognitive.
NF-L or Neurofilament Light chain, can be measured in blood, also GFAP (Glial fibrillary acidic protein) and possibly other neuronal proteins. Implementing at DC VA for MS but not available currently, but there is a panel. Has some promise for measuring brain injury, not clinically diagnostic now, but may be useful in the future. NF-L in Vienna case very high, flown back, but not many symptoms in that case/patient. State can’t see medical records from NIH, so patients were not minimizing.
There may be possible blood tests for cognition/brain injury markers that could be useful or promising, but both of these are not widely available:
Neurofilament light chain (NF-L of NFLC or NfL) GFAP (Glial fibrillary acidic protein)

And as mentioned most recently in post 2,304, when these alleged "blood tests for cognition/brain injury markers" are available, it is much more likely that they indicate stress-related anxiety rather than brain injury.
As for "vestibular and cognitive" issues:

What causes PPPD?
PPPD usually starts after a “triggering” event, especially an episode or injury that causes a balance issue.
Triggers of PPPD include:
Acute vertigo.
Benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV).
Head injury (like a concussion).
Ménière’s disease.
Panic attack.
Stroke.
Vestibular migraine.
Vestibular neuritis.
With PPPD, your body remembers feeling off-balance even after the event passes. Although you don’t mean to, you remain hyperaware of things that affect balance, like your posture and surroundings. The heightened awareness often leads to anxiety.

Instead of helping, the hyperawareness prevents your brain from processing sensory information from your eyes, muscles and inner ear so you feel steady on your feet. Experts suggest that your brain relies too much on sensory inputs you’re more aware of, like what you see and how you’re positioning your body. Meanwhile, it relies too little on information you’re less aware of, like information about subtle movements you get from your inner ear (vestibular system). As a result, you experience symptoms.

It’s frustrating. The hyperawareness in PPPD is as automatic as maintaining balance is for a person without PPPD.
Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (Cleveland Clinic)

Russians with ray guns aren't mentioned, but it's obvious that even rumors about 'phantom attackers' will make people hyperaware!

I notice that the webinar is part of a series: September 12, 2024: Seamless Stepped Care for Veterans with Health Concerns Related to Exposures

 

[dann]

I thought the TIs had ignored the story about the alleged 'Havana-syndrome' attack on Biden (see posts 2,299 and 2,303), but they haven't:

Thread on Biden possibly suffering a #HavanaSyndrome #AHI attack during the debate. It's def possible, given his rapid decline in motor skills, delay in responding, and recall. Sudden and debilitating brain fog, common with Havana Syndrome, best describes his debate performance
https://x.com/igorsushko/status/1807603930601578971
Dale Schenck (X, July 1, 2024)

I don't know if the conspiracy nuts have any explanation for his speedy recovery. He appeared to be in fine form the very next day in Raleigh, North Carolina. Antidote? Antibodies? Or the cocaine and steroids that Trump claimed Biden would be taking for the debate?

 

[steenkh]

I don't know if the conspiracy nuts have any explanation for his speedy recovery.

The secret weapons have improved?

 

[Orphia Nay]

The secret weapons have improved?

Washington Syndrome? New US targeting weapons for good?

 

[dann]

Correction

In post 2,304, I mentioned and linked to post 1,590 twice.
The first time, it should have been post 2,286.

 

[dann]

The secret weapons have improved?

Washington Syndrome? New US targeting weapons for good?

Maybe. The kind of damage they are now going for appears to be at the level of CIA's character assassination attempts in their war on Fidel Castro:

7) Character assassination through LSD-like drugs or debearding
These technically weren’t attempts to kill Castro so much as discredit him and undermine his rule. But they’re too strange to not include here.
"From March through August 1960, during the last year of the Eisenhower Administration, the CIA considered plans to undermine Castro's charismatic appeal by sabotaging his speeches," the Church Committee report writes. "According to the 1967 Report of the CIA's Inspector General, an official in the Technical Services Division recalled discussing a scheme to spray Castro's broadcasting studio with a chemical which produced effects similar to LSD, but the scheme was rejected by the chemical was unreliable."
The TSD also experimented with dosing a box of cigars with a chemical producing temporary disorientation, which could lead to an embarrassing failed speech by Castro. The CIA inspector general also found a plan to dust Castro's shoes with thallium salts, "a strong depilatory that would cause his beard to fall out." It was supposed to be delivered to Castro when he was traveling abroad, and left his shoes outside his hotel room to be shined, but when Castro canceled the trip, the attempt was abandoned.
7 bizarre ways the US tried to kill or topple Fidel Castro (Vox, Nov 26, 2016)

I suppose it's a different faction of the CIA that sabotages Trump's teleprompter texts and makes him talk about windmills, magnets, bleach, batteries, sharks and toilets.

 

[dann]

I have no idea who is behind IntelToday, but on May 28, 2024, it claimed:

Changing one’s mind goes against human nature. Even scientists often seek evidence to confirm their pre-existing beliefs, especially when they have emotional, financial, or political investments in their viewpoints. Over the past seven years, Kenneth R. Foster has completely revised his initial assessment of the Havana Syndrome. Although he originally disagreed with my analysis (which I posted on October 3, 2017), Dr. Foster has published a letter in the latest issue of Scientific American where he expresses views that are now essentially in full agreement with mine.
Havana Syndrome: The Slow but Complete U-Turn of a Scientist [Kenneth R. Foster — Scientific American]

Kenneth Foster is quoted saying:

We need to move away from simplistic arguments of “brain damage” versus “mass hysteria” that have characterized much of the reporting. Patho-physiological events, including pulsed energy attacks, could trigger genuine illnesses involving a disturbance of brain function, like PPPD, even where there is no brain damage.

However, the author of the IntelToday article seems to be unaware of the recent webinar (see post 2,301), which included a powerpoint presentation by Foster:

My Take On The Issue
* No evidence has been made public for microwaves (or any other physical agent) as cause of AHI even in the "core cases"
* Neurologists who interviewed some AHI victims are convinced that something "real" had happened leading to vestibular related symptoms.
* BUT mass psychogenic illness is a well established and common phenomenon, seems to explain the facts of the matter. * MPI seems like a more probable explanation.
Havana Syndrome - an IEEE perspective (IEEE Future Networks, June 26, 2024)

As I explained in post 2,301, I don't think Foster has 'come around' to embracing the idea of a DEW attack on the brains of U.S. diplomats and spies. He just doesn't want to exclude the possibility that something like that could have happened, especially considering that there are so many cases:

The hundreds (thousands?) of people reporting AHI, as well as TIs, are a very heterogeneous group, possibly with many issues. Can't make blanket statements about what is/is not the cause of their problems. They individually need medical and mental health evaluation and treatment.
Kenneth Foster (X, July 9, 2024)

MPI is indeed a more probable explanation than others, but not the only one possible. I get persistent hints from sources with clearance that something important is not being disclosed to the public, so I defer judgment for the present.
https://x.com/KFosterUPenn/status/1808225616744903094 (X, July 2, 2024)

I tend to disagree with this argument. It's like claiming that the sheer number of UFO/UAP sightings as an argument for extraterrestrial aliens having visited Earth in flying saucers, in particular when some of the people making the claims allegedly have access to classified sources proving that they're there.
I think Encyclopædia Britannica is right when it calls the 'syndrome' a "largely discredited medical condition."

 

[dann]

In vice-presidential news: J.D. Vance and the 'syndrome'

Mr. Vance has revealed a sophomoric side about other serious foreign policy issues.
Earlier this year when 60 Minutes, The Insider, and DER SPIEGEL revealed evidence that Russia was behind Havana Syndrome, Mr. Vance doubted the Kremlin’s involvement, commenting on the X social media platform that it “feels like a lot of journalists have lost their minds.”
A Trump-Vance ticket is a Biden-Harris victory (WashingtonTimes, July 13, 2024)

Washington Times may not like it, but Vance is actually aligned with the White House, i.e. the current administration, and the ODNI report on this one:

The United States is backing a year-old intelligence assessment that health problems affecting, and in some cases incapacitating, hundreds of American personnel around the world are not the result of a weapon wielded by a U.S. adversary.
The White House, the Pentagon and the State Department Monday stood by a March 2023 report by the National Intelligence Council that concluded it is “very unlikely” the adverse symptoms known as Havana Syndrome were caused by enemy operatives, despite a new investigation that suggests a notorious Russian intelligence unit may be to blame.
“The intelligence community has not concluded that,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, defending the conclusions of the 2023 assessment.
(...)
“Most IC [intelligence community] agencies have concluded that it is very unlikely a foreign adversary is responsible for the reported AHIs [anomalous health incidents],” the assessment said, using the U.S. government terminology for Havana Syndrome.
US not moved by report blaming Russia for ‘Havana Syndrome’ (VOA News, April 1, 2024)

 

[dann]

More AI articles about the 'Havana syndrome'

On X, ads have recently told me that I won't be replaced by AIs but by somebody using AIs. If this site is representative of articles written by AIs, I doubt that there is much to fear:
How russia can be the culprit of havana syndrome?

The only surprise is how original the answer is in comparison to most articles about this issue:

Russia's history of public health issues, such as the significant number of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) cases caused by hantaviruses, indicates a complex epidemiological landscape that could potentially intersect with covert operations [3]. Moreover, the spread of diseases like HIV in Russia, with a high prevalence and substantial mortality, underscores the country's ongoing public health challenges and the need for robust medical and epidemiological infrastructure [4]. The detection of various hantaviruses in Russia, including the Seoul virus (SEOV) in Vladivostok, which is linked to international shipping routes, further illustrates the country's role in the global movement of pathogens [1].

I don't remember any other articles or reports linking the Seoul virus, HIV and hemorrhagic fever to the 'syndrome'!

 

[dann]

Trump is the most recent victim

Now Trump appears to have become a 'syndrome' victim.

Both the Biden’s Debate Debacle of 6.27.24 and the Trump’s claimed gunshot wound and the “Divine Intervention” of 7.13.24 are results of the attacks which appear to be related to the hypothetical use of the Directed Energy Weapons (Lasers) of the Havana Syndrome type in Debates, and the “high precision” attack on Trump’s right ear.
Hypothetically, these attacks can be attributed to Russia, Israel, or the The Third Party (The Russian-Jewish Mob, TOC?), both, or all.
The central point is the demonstration of the range of uses for these novel weapons and the corresponding capabilities.
My Opinion: The history of the Western Civilization is the history of the developments of Weaponry used to protect it. It is also the history of Thought behind these developments. We are entering the new age of the Light as the Weapon. (Jessica.com, July 20, 2024)

I don't know why they didn't get him at the debate, too. Maybe they've only got one DEW, so they couldn't do both. It was clever of Crooks to disguise his 'syndrome' laser as an AR-15 rifle.

 

[dann]

In post 2,285, I mentioned Dan Taberski's upcoming podcast series Hysterical.

At the center of "Hysterical" - produced by Wonder and Pineapple Street Studios and available everywhere today - is the outbreak in 2011 of a mysterious illness among a group of mostly high-school girls in upstate New York. The girls (as well as one boy and a middle-aged woman) in Le Roy, N.Y., all experienced Tourette-like symptoms, including vocal ticks and spasms.
(...)
"Hysterical" examines other unexplained cases, including so-called Havana syndrome, the perplexing illness that's affected dozens of US intelligence, diplomatic, and military personnel. The subject of multiple news stories and "60 Minutes" segments over the past few years, the mystery illness has debilitating symptoms - chronic headaches, dizziness, general cognitive dysfunction - that appear suddenly. Some speculate that the condition could be the result of brain injury caused by microwaves or ultrasound.
Could mass hysteria explain these mysterious outbreaks, from Havana syndrome to hiccups? (Boston Globe, July 22, 2024)

oh heyyy! My newest project #Hysterical is now available everywhere and it just reached #1 on the Apple podcast charts! Thanks so much to everyone listening -- and now it's time for a q&a!
Ask me, as they say, anything. ANYTHING!
Dan Taberski (X, July 23, 2024)

Outbreak
In the fall of 2011, a high school girl in LeRoy, New York falls ill: spasms, outbursts, and uncontrollably violent movements. As the mysterious illness spreads throughout the school, a young doctor attempts to connect the dots. Is there an external pathogen? Or is what’s happening in LeRoy something far more mysterious? (28 min.)
All in Your Head
With more than a dozen girls now afflicted with the mystery illness in LeRoy, parents are scared and demanding answers. Chaos erupts when state health officials hold a town meeting, but won’t reveal their findings. When a parent lets the diagnosis slip, it will leave the whole town doubting their doctors, neighbors, and even their own minds. (33 min.)
We Have Another One
The illness spreads from high schoolers to a 36-year-old nurse and mother. Meanwhile, a teen girl gets a diagnosis in front of a live studio audience… from a former contestant of the Bachelor. (37 min.)
Hysterical (Apple Podcasts)

+ four more:
Waiting for Brockovich, July 29
Alive and Well, Aug 12
Into the Multiverse, Aug 19
We're Gucci, Aug 26

I haven't listened to any of the episodes yet. Judging by the Boston Globe article, I think that Dan Taberski hasn't made up his mind about the 'Havana syndrome'.


ETA: I have listened to the first three episodes, and I like the series so far. It won't get to the 'syndrome' until the episode Alive and Well on Aug 12:
"Across the world, curiously similar patterns emerge in a more recent outbreak affecting hundreds of CIA officers and diplomats. Could the cases be more connected than they appear?"

 

[dann]

More about Dan Taberski's new podcast series Hysterical

Three reviews:
Hysterical stares into the abyss (Vulture, July 25, 2024)
This mass hysteria study reaches an inevitable conclusion (The Times, July 18, 2024)
Crime writers on ... Hysterical (Crime Writers on ... July 22, 2024 - 49:43 min.)

 

[dann]

GFAP & NfL

I have mentioned the biomarkers GFAP and NfL several times. On this page alone, they are mentioned in posts 2,286, 2,304 and 2,305. But somehow I overlooked that the NIH studies published in March/April 2024 (see posts 2,142, 2,146, 2,147 and 2,249) also looked into GFAP and NfL in blood samples from 'Havana syndrome' patients:

Main outcomes and measures: Participants were assessed with extensive clinical, auditory, vestibular, balance, visual, neuropsychological, and blood biomarkers (glial fibrillary acidic protein and neurofilament light) testing. The patients were analyzed based on the risk characteristics of the AHI identifying concerning cases as well as geographic location.
(...)
Results: Eighty-six participants with AHIs (42 women and 44 men; mean [SD] age, 42.1 [9.1] years) and 30 vocationally matched government control participants (11 women and 19 men; mean [SD] age, 43.8 [10.1] years) were included in the analyses. Participants with AHIs were evaluated a median of 76 days (IQR, 30-537) from the most recent incident. In general, there were no significant differences between participants with AHIs and control participants in most tests of auditory, vestibular, cognitive, or visual function as well as levels of the blood biomarkers. Participants with AHIs had significantly increased fatigue, depression, posttraumatic stress, imbalance, and neurobehavioral symptoms compared with the control participants.
Clinical, Biomarker, and Research Tests Among US Government Personnel and Their Family Members Involved in Anomalous Health Incidents (NIH/JAMA, April 2, 2024)

I guess it was to be expected that 'syndrome' sufferers who insist that their symptoms are akin to combat injuries would complain about the NIH study.

 

[dann]

The death of a 'Havana Syndrome' sufferer

Zoë Moulton did not, in other words, fit the cinematic stereotype of a glamorous, cynical CIA action figure, but her real job was to recruit foreigners to spy for the United States, among them terrorist financiers and other tough customers. True, she was movie-worthy blond and pretty, with startling blue eyes, friends said, and excelled at her job, but she was also unusually warm hearted and generous, going out of her way to help others through their emergencies even when she was suffering herself from a rare cancer that cut short her life on April 25, age 50.
A Bright CIA Light, Snuffed Out Too Soon - Zoë Moulton, a beloved CIA case officer afflicted by ‘Havana Syndrome,’ died at age 50 (SpyTalk, July 24, 2024)

Her death doesn't seem to be related to the 'syndrome', but that doesn't stop TIs from speculating:

Zoë Moulton, a CIA case officer afflicted by ‘Havana Syndrome,’ died at age 50. By @SpyTalker
#HavanaSyndrome has been identified as a serious public health issue for civilians inside the US by Dr. Giordano #NKBI @TargetedJustice @AnaToledoDavila
Len Ber (X, July 27, 2024)

I would have liked to see the source of this story about "devices to measure what was happening":

'The CIA had equipped overseas personnel with devices to measure what was happening, “because everyone was kind of expecting it at some point,” a friend recalled. “She said it was on her nightstand on the left side, (and) as soon as it happened, she reached over and grabbed it to push the button or whatever,” but was overcome.'
She had cancer. Was it related? So did Duncan, but he knew they would kill him. https://x.com/ProtectPatient1/status/1817289180885766182
ourconstitution.info (X, July 27, 2024)

It is no surprise that a targeted individual thinks that a cancer patient's death must have been caused by them. I assume that (Robert) Duncan was the author of this book:
How to Tame a Demon: A short practical guide to organized intimidation stalking, electronic torture, and mind control (Saxo.dk)

 

[dann]

The Return of the Cricket Tape

One of the affected, Kate Husband, who served as a State Department consular officer in Havana until her diagnosis led her to retire on medical disability, spoke exclusively to NBC News in 2021.
“It was persistent, the same level all the time. Very, very loud. It’s nothing you could sit with,” she said. “On our right was another embassy family, and then the people on our left and across the streets from us were both Canadian Embassy employees, and in the end, all four households were diagnosed.”
She has been diagnosed with "acquired brain injury related to a directional phenomenon exposure.”
Report reveals 300+ people, including children, affected by mysterious ‘Havana syndrome' (NBC Miami, Aug 1, 2024)

The short article is accompanied by an old clip with Kate Husband and Doug Ferguson playing the cricket recording on their cell phone - for the benefit of people who don't know what kind of directional phenomenon they were exposed to. I bet 'Havana syndrome' lawyer Mark Zaid isn't happy with that! (post 1,602):

Zaid: They really did hear those sounds because they really did hear crickets, you know, at the time something was happening to them. But the crickets have nothing to do with, you know, whatever this is. Unless of course, I guess, some country got so advanced that they attached some sort of weapon to distract them with crickets, like passenger crickets or something, right, in a game where pigeons were actually used, were designed to be used ...
Interviewer: When you say it was unfortunate, you are talking about the recording of ...
Zaid: The recording! The recording has nothing to do with what these incidents are! It was total coincidence that at a point in time where whatever number of people recorded things, one or two, I guess, that, whatever they were experiencing, they happened to also hear crickets. And then they turned their phone on or something.

From Yahoo News' Conspiracyland podcast, It's Not What We Thought It Was (Sep 16, 2022)

I wonder if Husband and Ferguson were asked before NBC decided to play the clip from 2021 again.


ETA: Also in the Miami Herald: New report reveals Havana Syndrome case numbers. More than 300 Americans treated (July 31, 2024)

Two threads on X:

334 patients have qualified for US military care…..334!!!!…for something the DNI says doesn’t exist. The USG is just broken on this issue. Superb overview from @ngameztorres, who has bravely stayed on this story. Looking to ongoing bipartisan HPSCI investigation to unscrew.
Marc Polymeropoulos (X, July 31, 2024)

#NEW Spies, active-duty military, FBI agents, diplomats and 15 children among the 334 Americans who qualified to get treatment for #HavanaSyndrome in military facilities, #s at odds with an assessment by U.S. intelligence agencies minimizing the problem.
Nora Gámez Torres (X, July 31, 2024)

The Targeted Individuals are particularly active in the second thread.

According to the report, the patients feel stigmatized by their conditions, and many are reluctant to seek care, given the reaction they have received at work after disclosing that they were affected. Nearly half the patients GAO analysts interviewed said they faced difficulties at work -- losing assignments, being placed on leave, having their security clearance renewals delayed, or being referred for psychological care.
Several patients said they did not tell their supervisors of their exposure out of concern that it would negatively affect their careers.
'Havana Syndrome' Sufferers Face Challenges Navigating the Military Health System, Federal Watchdog Finds (Military.com, July 30, 2024)

 

[dann]

Dan Taberski's podcast series Hysterical about an outbreak of mass psychogenic illness at LeRoy High, N.Y., finally gets around to the 'syndrome':

The mystery illness in LeRoy has a new victim: a boy. Across the world, curiously similar patterns emerge in a more recent outbreak affecting hundreds of CIA officers and diplomats. Could the cases be more connected than they appear?
Alive and Well (Hysterical on Apple Podcasts, Aug 12, 2024 - 41 min.)

Mark Polymeropoulos, Mark Zaid and Robert Bartholomew were all interviewed for this week's episode. Dan Taberski comes down on the side of mass psychogenic illness, but leaves the door open for the possibility that a few cases may have been DEW attacks.
At least, he is aware that it's not out of the question that trained, professional CIA operatives could come down with MPI:
Zaid: "They don't want to know what they know they don't want to know." ('They' being the government, CIA, ODNI ...)
Polym: "It makes no sense!" (that the 'syndrome' isn't caused by attacks.)