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A recent report by CBS’ 60 Minutes has renewed attention on “Havana Syndrome,” a mysterious set of injuries reported by high-ranking officials in the United States government while serving both in the United States and abroad.For nine years, producers Oriana Zill de Granados and Michael Rey worked with correspondent Scott Pelley to investigate the cases. Victims described being suddenly overwhelmed by an invisible force that affected their senses. Reported symptoms included cognitive difficulties, vision impairment, problems with balance, headaches, nausea and vomiting. Some incidents happened while victims were at home, walking to their cars, or asleep in their beds.Some victims believed they were attacked with an energy weapon and targeted because of their roles within the US government."When we first heard all of these stories, it sounded odd and hard to believe… that some invisible ray gun was hitting these people and hurting them," Zill de Granados told Overtime.The 60 Minutes investigation found links between Havana Syndrome incidents and Russian intelligence. More than 65 victims believe they were targeted by a directed energy weapon.
The report also said the US government acquired a directed energy weapon from a Russian criminal network and is believed to be testing it on animals."We now believe there are directed-energy weapons that can do this, and we believe that in a subset of the large body of cases, that's what happened, " Zill de Granados said.In 2022, the 60 Minutes team reported on domestic incidents involving high-level government officials working in Washington, DC.For the latest report, the team interviewed Chris and Heidi, who asked that their last names not be used. Chris retired as a lieutenant colonel who worked on highly classified spy satellites. He told Pelley that near Washington, DC, he was struck by an unseen force five times in five months."The fifth one was by far the worst," Chris told Pelley. "I woke up with a full-body convulsion, the worst pain I have ever felt. It felt like a vice gripping my brainstem."His wife Heidi was in proximity for the last two incidents. She said she "woke up with immense joint pain everywhere" during one of the attacks. After seeing a doctor, she learned that bones in her shoulder were dissolving, a condition called osteolysis, and she later had surgery.Chris said he believes he and his wife were attacked by a foreign adversary while he was serving in the line of duty."I think it's time we as a country come to grips with the fact that the game has changed.
Our adversaries are now able to reach out and touch us here in the United States, specifically at our homes," he said.Dr David Relman, a Stanford University professor of medicine, was asked by the government to lead two investigations into the incidents. His panels included doctors, physicists, engineers and other experts, and their reports in 2020 and 2022 proposed a possible explanation."That the most plausible explanation for a subset of these cases was a form of radiofrequency or microwave energy," he told Pellley.Relman also said the investigations found that one country had conducted extensive research on creating a unique pattern of microwaves that can damage the brain."We found the large majority of work to have been conducted in the former Soviet Union. And what they found was that effects could range from loss of consciousness to seizures to memory lapses, inability to concentrate, headaches, intense pressure, pain, disorientation, difficulty with balance, many of the things that we heard about from victims of Havana Syndrome," he told Pelley.Years after the panels had concluded, Relman suggested the injuries in the Havana Syndrome incidents could have been caused by such a weapon, but the idea was shelved by federal officials.Confidential sources told the 60 Minutes team that the United States acquired the weapon through a Russian criminal network and that it has been tested in a US military lab for more than a year. They also said tests on rats and sheep showed injuries consistent with those seen in humans.The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, which oversees 18 agencies including the CIA, said a new review of the Havana Syndrome incidents will be "comprehensive and complete" and that "we remain committed to delivering the truth."
English (US) ·