A declassified U.S. intelligence study made public Wednesday concludes that brain injuries suffered by U.S. diplomats and intelligence personnel in mysterious attacks overseas appear similar to cases of directed energy exposure.
The once-secret executive summary of a panel of experts from both government and the private sector on what are called anomalous health incidents, or AHIs, states that the panel of experts did not investigate whether foreign nations or other actors were behind the spate of cases.
However, the report identified several types of directed energy as possible sources for what has been dubbed the Havana Syndrome, after its initial discovery among U.S. diplomats in the Cuban capital in 2016, and months later in Guangzhou, China. The panel also dismissed some experts’ claims that the incidents of what CIA Director William Burns at one time called “attacks” were imaginary.
“The signs and symptoms of AHIs are genuine and compelling,” the report states. “Among the possible causes are pulsed electromagnetic energy, particularly in the radio frequency range, [which] plausibly explains the core characteristics, although information gaps exist,” the report states.
The panel did not examine whether various directed energy was used in combination to cause the brain injuries that have resulted in some victims losing the ability to stand and walk.
Radiofrequency waves are not a new form of directed energy harassment. American Embassy personnel in Moscow and other locations experienced damaging radiofrequency exposure believed to be from Russian government agents during the Cold War. Radio waves could be fired at victims using electronic gear at ranges of “tens to hundreds of meters,” the report said.
Pulsed electromagnetic energy bursts could be fired at people with “moderate power requirements,” the report said.
On alternative explanation the panel examined, ultrasound wave attacks, require close access and the energy to launch them can be portable and aimed in tight beams, the report said.
“Ultrasound propagates poorly through air and building materials, restricting its applicability to scenarios in which the source is near the target,” the panel said.
Ultrasound is used medically and could produce the symptoms of Havana Syndrome victims, the report said.
Incident reports and medical data showed that some victims were injured by exposure in the same space and experienced what the report said was “cellular injury to the nervous system.”
“The reported signs and symptoms of AHIs are diverse and may be caused by multiple mechanisms, but no case should be discounted,” the report said.
The experts concluded that some but not all of the incidents could not be explained by environmental or medical factors.
The syndrome “is distinctly unusual and unreported elsewhere in the medical literature, and so far have not been associated with a specific neurological abnormality,” the report said.
During the incidents, victims reported sound and pain within only one ear, suggesting exposure to some type of energy in a specific nerve within the head or nuclei in the brain stem that affects hearing and balance.
The panel concluded that ionizing radiation, chemical and biological agents, infrasound, audible sound, ultrasound propagated over large distances, and bulk heating from electromagnetic energy were all unlikely causes for the Havana Syndrome cases.
A section of the report on technical detectors used in identifying attacks was redacted.
Better information and communication on incidents is needed to educate U.S. government personnel.
“We continue to pursue complementary efforts to get to the bottom of Anomalous Health Incidents (AHIs) — and to deliver access to world-class care for those affected,” Director of National Intelligence Avril D. Haines and CIA Director William J. Burns said in a joint statement, adding that progress is being made in getting an answer.
Last month, the CIA concluded that most suspected attacks did not appear to have been generated by a hostile government, although 24 incidents could be linked to foreign nations.
Analysts initially suspected Russia was behind the attacks, but a U.S. official said China also is suspected.
The 2016 attacks in Guangzhou raised suspicions that Beijing was involved because of the Chinese government’s known controls and monitoring of foreign diplomats in China.
The experts’ report followed a study of State Department officials by experts at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. That study also concluded those experiencing brain injuries experienced symptoms similar to those caused directed energy exposure.
“The committee found the unusual presentation of acute, directional or location-specific early phase signs, symptoms and observations reported by [Department of State] employees to be consistent with the effects of directed, pulsed radio frequency (RF) energy,” according to the report made public in December. “Many of the chronic, nonspecific symptoms are also consistent with known RF effects, such as dizziness, headache, fatigue, nausea, anxiety, cognitive deficits and memory loss.”
While Mr. Burns testified during a Senate confirmation hearing in February 2021 that the incidents in question were the result of “attacks,” the Biden administration appears to have shifted the description throughout government to AHIs.
Health, The New York Today
