04x18 - The Mysterious Havana Syndrome

[bunniefuu]

Tonight, a mysterious illness

strikes hundreds

of government officials.

In the middle of the night,

I woke up

and the room was spinning.

I had a terrible case

of vertigo.

I was frankly terrified.

Ongoing investigations raise

more questions than answers.

It's causing

a lot of confusion, frustration,

and really starting to feel

kinda like

they're in some sort

of bad spy thriller.

Now, we reveal the top theories

behind this bizarre epidemic.

This could have

been caused by something

that was already inside

the embassy staff quarters.

These chemicals have been used

in some of the most deadly

chemical att*cks on the planet.

Could some foreign power have

developed a new sonic w*apon?

What's behind the strange

phenomenon

known as Havana syndrome?

November 2016, Havana, Cuba.

As the sun sets on the island,

a U.S. diplomat and his wife

are unwinding with friends.

This couple

has just moved to Cuba,

and their names have been kept

anonymous in reports.

But the diplomat and his wife

are living in

an upscale development

called El Country Club.

They're having neighbors

over for drinks,

and suddenly

they hear this sound,

and it fills the air and sounds

kind of like cicadas,

only it's a more

piercing metallic sound.

The noise persists

through dinner.

At the couple's request,

maintenance workers check

the property for insects,

and look for any

electrical issues

that could be causing

the racket.

But they find nothing.

The sound lingers

for three months,

during which time

the couple falls ill.

He and his wife

have been feeling off

ever since shortly after

the sounds began

kind of cloudy

with difficulty concentrating.

After a while, the diplomat

shares his experience

with coworkers

at the U.S. embassy.

A colleague in his 30s

says that he also heard

this high-pitched sound

and started to experience

health issues.

And he plays some audio

that he's recorded

of the incident.

It's the same noise

the diplomat's been hearing

for months.

Days later, that diplomat

and his wife

are examined by doctors in Miami

and diagnosed with

concussion-like symptoms

headache, fatigue,

disorientation,

and balance issues.

More diplomats

and others start reporting

exactly the same set

of symptoms.

Over the next two months,

more than two dozen officials

in Havana are diagnosed

with the strange condition.

What's even worse,

is some of these victims

enter a second phase

of the illness

where they have even greater

cognitive difficulty

and trouble hearing or seeing.

It's really horrible.

These symptoms

have just appeared,

and there appears to be

no treatment.

You have to wonder,

what could cause this

in so many different people?

To try to learn why,

the U.S. government

opens an investigation

in January of 2017.

The first group

of embassy employees

are thoroughly examined

in the United States,

and a report is published

in the Journal of the American

Medical Association in 2018.

Perhaps most seriously

and notably,

the study concluded

that the patients

had sustained widespread injury

to brain networks.

There is a clear physical change

that has happened

to the brains of these patients.

It's visible in the MRIs.

But that change is minor

compared to the results

of several neurological tests

that target memory,

executive functioning,

and spatial orientation.

According to the study,

these same severe effects

would occur

after a devastating car crash

or expl*si*n.

But none of these victims have

experienced that type of trauma.

At a loss, doctors dub

the mysterious illness

Havana syndrome.

Is some strange virus

or infection

spreading through

the American embassy?

This, of course,

is a huge concern

to multiple government agencies.

For no apparent reason,

their staffers

are suddenly

dropping like flies.

It's not k*lling anyone,

but it's making them

pretty much unable

to function in their jobs

and sometimes in

their daily lives.

In 2018,

the U.S. government

brings in the CIA,

Defense Department,

State Department, and CDC

to further investigate.

At the earliest

onset of symptoms,

these victims are hearing

a chirping,

a screeching, a clicking,

and they're also feeling

a certain pressure

in their heads.

They say they're hearing

these sounds in their homes

or in their hotel rooms,

and there's a certain

directionality to the sensation,

almost like it's coming

through a wall

or in a specific

part of the room.

Based on the victims' testimony,

officials believe

they have the answer.

Diplomats and CIA officers,

or spies,

are the ones who were afflicted.

This is not affecting

the general public.

So, the U.S.'s first guess

is that it could be

a covert sonic w*apon.

In October 2017,

President Tr*mp

holds a news conference

where he calls the incidents,

quote,

"a very unusual att*ck."

He's going public with the idea

that this is a w*apon.

Sound, like anything,

can be and has been weaponized.

It's not something

we think about

because we can't see it.

But at certain frequencies,

it can cause vomiting

and internal distress,

and maybe even death.

It's something

the Nazis tried to harness

during World w*r II.

The n*zi regime

had a team of scientists

working on wonder weapons

which they claimed

would revolutionize the w*r.

And their chief architect,

Albert Speer,

developed one that's called

the acoustic cannon.

The idea is to k*ll

or injure someone

by focusing or magnifying

soundwaves on a reflective dish.

At a distance

of around 600 to 1,200 feet,

the sound is reported to cause

vertigo and nausea

by vibrating structures

in the inner ear.

At closer ranges, it could

even damage internal organs.

But this w*apon

has one serious flaw.

It's huge.

The reflector dishes are so big

that it's hard to maneuver,

and any damage to the dishes

would render it

entirely inoperable.

While the Nazis' acoustic cannon

was never used in battle,

it paves the way

for modern versions.

In the early 2000s

the U.S. developed a w*apon

that it called an LRAD

long-range acoustic device.

These LRADs are capable

of projecting

very powerful pulses

or beams of sound

up to two miles away.

And if you set it

to emit high-decibel chirping

or a beeping sound,

it could also be used

as a deterrent.

Nowadays, our m*llitary

uses LRADs

for everything

from crowd control

to repelling pirates

from cruise ships.

At a high enough decibel,

LRADs can be used as weapons.

They're certainly capable

of creating pain,

nausea, imbalance,

and even permanent hearing loss.

It's a promising lead,

but experts say

there's one problem

with the sonic w*apon theory.

LRADs are not subtle weapons.

They are definitely

very, very loud.

And given that none

of the patients in Havana

reported hearing a loud sound,

their reports

are not really consistent

with the use of an LRAD.

So, the next question becomes,

could some foreign power have

developed a new sonic w*apon,

one that somehow produces

the same effects

by primarily using sound outside

the range of human hearing?

There's no evidence

found in Cuba.

But in 2019,

the Chinese Academy of Sciences

announces a prototype

for the first

portable sonic g*n.

The Chinese claim

that they use focus waves

of infrasound.

These waves painfully vibrate

the subject's eardrums,

eyes, and brain.

It may mess with the inner ear,

causing vertigo and imbalance.

Infrasound may also cause

nausea, vomiting, bowel spasms,

and potentially affect

internal organs like the heart.

In field tests,

according to the Chinese team,

it produced extreme discomfort.

Of course, this thing

had to have been developed

and tested years prior to 2019,

possibly even

field tested covertly.

According to

the South China Morning Post,

which first reported the story,

this device has been approved

for mass production

by the Chinese government.

If that's the case,

it's definitely been

in the works for quite a while.

Still, many doubt

this technology

is the source

of Havana syndrome.

In the end, infrasound

would be a poor choice

because it spreads

in all directions.

It'd be difficult

to target specific individuals.

Infrasound can't be

easily focused.

It would also affect

the user of the w*apon,

probably more so than some

of the targets,

since they're closer

to the source.

And frankly, the effects

from an infrasonic w*apon

would probably be more annoying

than debilitating.

In February of 2022,

the Office of the Director

of National Intelligence

and the CIA state

that there's still a possibility

that this could be

a sonic w*apon in Havana,

but it would need to be placed

extremely close to the target,

meaning against a wall

or through a window.

In some of these Havana cases,

the victims were in

secure facilities

away from public access.

So, is it possible

that this was a sonic w*apon?

Sure.

But is it probable?

No.

In 2016,

after more than two dozen

American diplomats

develop a mysterious illness

called Havana syndrome,

some government officials

suspect an ultrasonic w*apon.

But computer security engineer

Dr. Kevin Fu

has a more surprising theory.

My laboratory

uses analog signals

to break into computer systems

with lasers, acoustics,

and soundwaves.

In other words,

Dr. Fu specializes

in hacking some of our most

sensitive electronics

to identify security flaws

and protect against them.

A few of the examples

include creating

a homemade radio transmitter

to induce fatal heart rhythms

in a defibrillator.

We have used laser pointers

over hundreds of feet

to take over

voice-controlled assistance.

We have also turned hard drives

into listening devices

through some of the mechanisms

on the inside

of the spinning discs.

So, when Dr. Fu first

hears about Havana syndrome,

he realizes, "Hey, this sounds

kind of like a phenomenon"

"I've encountered before.

"My whole job

is to glitch out electronics,

and maybe that's what

this is a glitch."

Dr. Fu believes

the Havana syndrome conditions

could have occurred without

any massive secret w*apon.

This theory states that

this could have been caused

by something

that was already inside

the embassy staff quarters.

According to Fu,

there's a good chance

the afflicted American officials

were under surveillance

while in Cuba,

a detail he thinks is key

to solving this puzzle.

I believe that some kind

of unintentional accident

with malfunctioning

eavesdropping devices

may have caused the sensations

that the witnesses reported.

When Fidel Castro

comes to power in 1959,

American diplomats

are unwelcome in Havana

for nearly 20 years.

But in 1977, the United States

reopens a limited

diplomatic relationship

to work with Cuba

on areas of mutual interest.

From then on, the Cubans

keep a pretty close watch

on any American diplomats

in their country.

As a State Department

official, you'd come home,

and maybe you'd see

the TV on or the window open,

and you might be thinking,

what's happening?

And then you realize

that Cuban spies

want you to get this message,

that if you think

you're being watched,

you probably are.

It's almost

like a game sometimes.

There are reports of things like

an undercover CIA agent

finding his tires punctured,

or maybe his family pet

is poisoned.

Eventually in 2015,

an American embassy

reopens in Cuba.

One year later, the first cases

of Havana syndrome are reported.

This is one reason

why the sonic w*apon theory

never made sense.

Why would the Cuban government

initiate a brazen att*ck

on American officials

at the very moment

when they were reopening

diplomatic relations?

It just doesn't add up.

That doesn't mean the Cubans

quit spying on Americans.

Of course not.

Everybody spies on each other,

and we find their devices

frequently.

So, when we looked

at what the witnesses

reporting about

the sensations in Havana,

we started brainstorming

about all sorts

of different kinds of conditions

that could make

an eavesdropping device

produce the same signals

that the witnesses heard.

If you're going to

conduct a spying operation,

you can't just hook up

a hidden camera to Wi-Fi.

You've gotta do it in a way that

will go completely undetected.

And we know that one way

spy devices

secretly transmit information

is through

the ultrasonic frequency range.

Ultrasound technology

is most commonly used

in healthcare applications,

motion detectors,

and pest repellents.

It's generally considered

harmless.

But Dr. Fu's team

has discovered a scenario

where ultrasonic transmitters

could become dangerous.

There's an interesting phenomena

when two signals

interfere with each other

to create a third tone.

It's called

intermodulation distortion.

So, although ultrasound

is not audible,

and is designed

not to be audible,

if two ultrasonic transmitters

come together

and cross paths in the air,

they can produce a byproduct

that is quite audible

to the human ear.

Dr. Fu's team is able

to replicate this phenomenon,

creating the same

metallic chirping sound

recorded by American diplomats.

If you listen

to the audio recordings

of some of the incidents

and the sound

from our experiments

in the laboratory,

we found that the two signals

were essentially identical.

But could these sounds

actually make people sick?

According to Dr. Fu,

it's possible.

We don't know if these

particular sounds caused harm,

because our experiments were all

confined to the laboratory,

not involving human subjects.

But we do know that sound

can cause harm.

It can cause nausea,

internal distress,

it can even cause harm

to the human body

at intense enough frequencies.

But not everyone's convinced.

It doesn't make any sense

as an intentional act,

at the very least.

If you're spying on somebody,

you do not want your devices

that you're using

for surveillance

to drive away the people

that you're trying to spy on,

which is exactly what happened.

The reason why Dr. Fu

and many others

have researched this

is because there's no answers

to what is causing

the Havana syndrome.

The U.S. government hasn't been

able to figure it out.

At least Dr. Fu

has replicated the noise,

and that's more than most people

have accomplished.

Part of the scientific process

is about exploring

many different hypotheses,

some of which may turn out

to be incorrect or less likely.

But we hope that the research

done in my laboratory

is helping us come closer

as a community to a conclusion

to solve this mystery.

Initially,

the mysterious Havana syndrome

only impacts U.S. diplomats

in Cuba.

But by March of 2018,

diplomats at another embassy

in Havana fall victim.

It starts happening

to the Canadian embassy staff.

This is very strange

because the Canadian embassy

is about three miles away

from the U.S. embassy,

so it's not like

they're adjacent or anything.

Canadian diplomats

and their families

start reporting exactly the same

kinds of symptoms

U.S. embassy staff had reported.

Disorientation,

nausea, dizziness.

Ultimately,

40 Canadian diplomats fall ill,

and so the Canadian government

ends up pulling its diplomats

out of Cuba.

By 2019,

Canada's workforce in Havana

is reduced by half.

This illness, whatever it is,

is severely limiting

their ability

to conduct

diplomatic relations in Cuba.

That same year,

Canadian officials

launch their own investigation.

At this point,

the Americans are probably glad

to have the help.

We've got no clear motive,

no clear means,

and no good suspects.

It's causing a lot

of confusion, frustration,

and really starting

to feel kinda like

they're in some sort

of bad spy thriller.

Among the Canadian researchers

is Dr. Alon Friedman,

who works at a highly regarded

brain research center

in Nova Scotia.

Dr. Friedman is a neuroscientist

who studies

the blood-brain barrier,

and in particular, the chemicals

that can cross that barrier,

which typically

protects your brain

from most chemical att*cks.

Although some researchers

have looked at the causes

being maybe sonic or physical,

Dr. Friedman is looking to see

if it may be a chemical

characteristic.

While the blood-brain barrier

does protect against

a lot of chemicals,

it turns out that the number

of chemicals

that can cross

that blood-brain barrier,

still very large.

And so, Dr. Friedman wants

to look at every possibility.

It's not even really finding

a needle in a haystack.

It's looking at a haystack

and not knowing

if there are any needles inside.

Dr. Friedman

conducts brain scans and MRIs

on 23 Canadian diplomats

and their families.

Initial evaluations confirm

the Canadians

have damaged brain tissue

just like the Americans.

In addition, Dr. Friedman

conducted a range

of blood tests,

as well as something

called mass spectrometry.

Mass spectrometry is a technique

that creates a fingerprint

for a chemical,

allowing you to tell

exactly what is there

and how it's comprised.

Specifically, he was on

a search for neurotoxins,

because all the symptoms

are consistent

with some sort of damage

or effect on the nervous system.

Turns out,

they find neurotoxins.

They find them in every single

symptomatic patient

that they test.

Everyone has some toxins

in their body,

but based on this study,

it appears that

the Havana syndrome

could have been caused

by a chemical w*apon.

The pattern of brain injuries

in the patients from Havana

are consistent with regular

low-dose exposure

to a class of neurotoxins called

cholinesterase inhibitors.

These chemicals have been used

in some of the most deadly

chemical weapons att*cks

on the planet.

Now, cholinesterase inhibitors,

as the name suggests,

inhibit cholinesterase

from working.

This chemical is crucial

for the communication

between the brain

and the muscles.

If your brain cells

cannot talk to each other,

then you have problems thinking.

Some cholinesterase

inhibitors have been weaponized.

One famous example is sarin.

Originally developed

by h*tler's n*zi Germany,

it was so devastating that even

h*tler was scared to use it.

Another variant of this chemical

is called Novichok.

This was a chemical that

was found in the bloodstream

of Russian opposition leader

Alexei Navalny,

who was poisoned in 2020.

Obviously,

cholinesterase inhibitors

can be very dangerous,

even deadly.

And so, Dr. Friedman

wants to find out

exactly what kind

of cholinesterase inhibitor

is affecting these patients.

After further testing,

Dr. Friedman's team

is able to identify

the chemical.

It isn't as nasty

as sarin or Novichok.

It is something else

called temephos.

Temephos

is not particularly lethal,

but regular exposure

can cause symptoms

such as dizziness,

disorientation,

sensitivity to sounds

symptoms that align

with what was reported

in Havana syndrome.

When the Havana syndrome

first hits the news,

a lot of people are saying

this sounds a lot like a w*apon.

But there's also

a less sinister possibility.

Temephos is used widely

throughout the world

as an agent

to control mosquitos.

It att*cks the nervous system

of the larvae,

preventing them

from turning into adults,

and therefore helping

to stop the spread

of mosquito-borne illness.

It is in a sense a pesticide.

Dr. Friedman concludes

that these diplomats

and their families

have been exposed to pesticides.

Could high levels of pesticide

actually be responsible?

In March of 2015, Zika is

officially detected in Brazil,

and by 2016,

the World Health Organization

has declared it

a public health emergency.

The Zika virus is

transmitted by mosquito bites.

Countries are spraying

for mosquitoes like crazy.

Tropical and semitropical places

like Cuba

are using vast quantities

of temephos.

And the timing seems to fit.

Cuba reports its first outbreak

of the Zika virus

in March of 2016.

The first American diplomats

report symptoms

of the Havana syndrome

about six months later.

Canadian records

confirm that in 2017,

the Canadian embassy

and its grounds

increased the use

of temephos pesticides,

which roughly coincides

with symptoms

in their embassy workers.

In fact, the EPA

has actually outlawed temephos

as a residential pesticide

because of its neurological

effects.

But not everyone's convinced

Friedman's solved the mystery.

Temephos was being used

all over the place

throughout the Americas,

not just at

diplomatic residences.

It was in

Cuban government offices,

Cuban homes, and dozens

of other places

where Havana syndrome

didn't occur.

What about Brazil?

What about Colombia?

If temephos caused this illness,

you'd have seen it affect

a much larger group worldwide.

Regardless,

Dr. Friedman still believes

a chemical could be the cause.

This doesn't mean

that it couldn't be

a neurological agent

of some kind at play.

Friedman couldn't test

for everything.

He tested for a handful

of likely candidates,

and it's possible that there

was something else at play

that he didn't test for.

In the end, we can't rule out

that the Havana syndrome

may have been caused

by chemical exposure.

Is there another

chemical w*apon out there

that we don't yet know about?

Hopefully not, but maybe.

As growing fears about

the mysterious Havana syndrome

thr*aten relations between

the U.S. and Cuba,

the Cuban government launches

its own investigation.

In 2018, Cuba's officials

announce their findings,

and identify

a surprising new culprit.

From very early on,

the United States has believed

that Cuba is behind

Havana syndrome somehow.

I mean, you give it that name,

the president goes on

live television

to blame the Cubans,

this is a very bad look

for them.

Some in the White House

are actually calling this

an act of w*r,

so the Cubans are very anxious

to clear their name.

The Cuban government

interviews about 300 neighbors

of these diplomats.

They say that they've gone

to the living quarters

of embassy staffers,

that they've analyzed

air and oil samples,

and that they've conducted

dozens of medical examinations

to see if people

in the surrounding area

were afflicted, and they say

they find nothing.

The Cubans are saying

there's simply no known

form of energy

that can selectively

damage the brain

the way the doctors describe.

They're even doubtful

that there's a syndrome at all.

Instead, they offer

an alternative explanation

for both the sounds

and the symptoms.

The Cuban government

in their report

theorize that this was not

caused by sonic weapons,

and the chirping noise

heard by everyone was crickets.

The rest of the symptoms,

the Cuban government says,

could be caused by stress.

After all the hours

investigating,

evacuating diplomats,

conducting extensive

medical tests,

to suggest that maybe people

were just worn down

by the sound of crickets?

That feels like an insult.

Two biologists,

UC Berkeley's Alexander Stubbs

and the University of Lincoln's

Fernando Montealegre-Zapata,

research Cuba's claim.

To them, that metallic

chirping noise

recorded in Havana

sounds vaguely familiar.

These biologists

had a massive database

of the sounds of different kinds

of insects,

their mating calls.

And what the biologists found

is that the sounds

that were recorded in Havana

match precisely that of one

particular kind of insect,

the Indies cricket.

And moreover,

this particular Indies cricket

is resident in Cuba.

For confirmation,

they use state-of-the-art

audio technology.

Forensic audio analysis can be

incredibly specific these days.

Soundwave patterns can be

kind of like fingerprints.

They can even be used

to convict K*llers.

So, what's interesting

is that when you apply

some of these acoustic

forensic techniques

to what was recorded in Cuba,

it's an exact match

of the cricket mating call.

Obviously,

crickets aren't as menacing

as a sonic w*apon

or a deadly neurotoxin,

but this isn't

your garden variety cricket.

The Indies cricket can chirp

at 100 decibels,

the same volume

as a subway train.

You can imagine

that if you had a couple

in your residence, that could be

a really rough night,

especially if you're not

habituated to those sounds.

If you're from another country

and this is the first time

you've ever heard it,

that could be

extremely disruptive.

According to the Cuban report,

the crickets

may be magnifying stress

that the diplomats

are already experiencing.

The Havana syndrome

has some classic telltale signs

of psychogenic illnesses.

There are studies that show

that people

who have been exposed

to long-term stress

have similar brain scans

as the Havana victims.

That stress

might be self-perpetuating.

After the news

of a possible w*apon

hits the media, the diplomats

are put on alert.

They're told that someone

could be watching them at home.

They're told not to sleep

or to stand near their windows,

and to report

any strange symptoms.

They're afraid

for their families.

They can never feel safe.

But those suffering

from Havana syndrome

strongly disagree.

Several people got sick

before there was an alert,

before it reached headlines

and people went into panic mode.

And the first four cases

were CIA officers.

These are people who are trained

to deal with massive amounts

of stress.

With opinions split

over the cricket theory,

the U.S. government calls in

an elite scientific team

to conduct its own analysis.

The federal government

has a semi-secret advisory board

known as JASON.

It was originally called

Project Sunrise,

and was later changed

to the name JASON

from Greek mythology.

It was formed in the aftermath

of the Soviet Sputnik launch

in 1960.

JASON attracts the

nation's most elite scientists

to advise on defense matters,

kind of like what we saw

in World w*r II

with the Manhattan Project

when Einstein and Oppenheimer

were researching nuclear energy

and weapons.

Today, there are between

30 and 60

of our country's best scientists

involved in JASON,

and they're only activated

when there's a particularly

difficult task at hand.

And at this point,

the U.S. government

sees Havana syndrome

as such a difficult matter,

that then they turn to JASON.

Through a Freedom

of Information Act request,

JASON's top-secret 2018 report

is released to the public.

And while much of it

is redacted,

the JASON scientists

concur that the noises

on the Havana recordings

are crickets.

While they agree

on the source of the sound,

they don't agree

on the source of the illness.

The report goes on to say,

quote,

"It cannot be ruled out

that the perceived sounds,

"while not harmful,

are introduced

"by an adversary as deception

"so as to mask

an entirely unrelated mode

of causing illness

in diplomatic personnel."

Basically, they're saying

these crickets

could be a distraction to hide

another form of att*ck.

And suddenly,

the Cubans blaming the crickets

seems really convenient.

Maybe the Cubans

are involved, maybe not.

Either way, once again,

we're left with no idea

what's making our people sick.

December 2017, Moscow, Russia.

CIA operative

Marc Polymeropoulos

is asleep in his hotel room

when he is awakened

by a strange sound.

In the middle

of the night, I woke up

and the room was spinning.

I had a terrible case

of vertigo.

I couldn't get up.

I was falling over.

I had tinnitus,

which is ringing in my ears.

I had a splitting headache

in the back of my head.

And overall, there was just

this incredible feeling

of being disoriented.

I was I was frankly terrified.

At the time,

Marc believes he has a bad case

of food poisoning.

I had been in Iraq

and Afghanistan,

been sh*t at

a whole bunch of times,

but I was flat-out scared.

A veteran operative,

Marc's been posted

on covert missions

all over the world.

I was the Deputy

Chief of Operations

of the Europe and Eurasia

Missions Center

that entailed oversight over

all CIA's clandestine operations

from Dublin, Ireland,

to the farthest regions

of Russia,

which encompasses 11 time zones.

So, my position at the time

was the equivalent

of a three-star general.

It was a routine trip

where I'm talking

to my counterparts in

the Russian Security Services.

Marc's symptoms

subside for a few days.

I was eating at a very

fancy restaurant in Moscow,

and the symptoms came back,

particularly the vertigo.

I remember clearly that

the room started spinning again.

The headaches came back

even more severe,

the tinnitus,

the ringing in my ears.

And I had to get back

to my room,

and in effect, for the last

couple days of my trip,

I didn't really do much.

The vertigo was so disorienting,

and I kind of crawled up

the stairs of the airplane

to finally make my way back

to the United States,

hoping that, you know,

these symptoms would get better.

As time goes by, however,

his symptoms only get worse.

I proceeded to go

to multiple doctors,

and these included allergists,

infectious disease specialists,

multiple neurologists,

pain doctors.

And for months and months,

they could find no way

to alleviate my symptoms.

But still, it was a mystery

to them what occurred.

One year later,

news breaks of a similar illness

affecting diplomats in Havana.

I still was having

these symptoms,

I still was feeling

incredibly ill.

When I heard about what had

happened to officers

at the U.S. embassy in Havana,

I had actually at the time

thought I could have experienced

the same thing.

Convinced there's a connection,

Marc takes his complaint

to the CIA's

Office of Medical Services.

And I went and I asked

CIA doctors there,

take a look at me, but in about

a 10-minute quick interview

and exam, they thought I did not

look like the U.S. officials

who were afflicted

by Havana syndrome.

But really, what was interesting

and pretty alarming

is that officers that I knew

would stop by my office

and they'd say,

"Hey, something happened to me."

Their symptoms

were very similar.

They had an event occur,

usually in a hotel room.

It was the same things,

such as vertigo,

splitting headaches.

And like myself,

they were all involved

in Russian operations.

Unfortunately, there still

was a lot of resistance

from inside the Office

of Medical Services.

But really in that timeframe,

I started suffering

from brain fog

and had a bout of several weeks

where I lost

my long-distance vision.

Ultimately,

the result of all this,

I couldn't perform my duties.

And in mid-2019,

I made the decision

that I would retire.

Polymeropoulos

believes he may be one

of the first to experience

Havana syndrome

outside of Cuba.

In June 2018,

nearly a dozen diplomats

are evacuated

from Guangzhou, China,

with similar symptoms.

Since then,

even more possible cases

have popped up in Georgia,

Poland, Taiwan,

Australia,

and the list goes on

Colombia, Kyrgyzstan,

Uzbekistan, and Austria.

Cases have even been

reported on American soil.

At least two cases

of Havana syndrome

have been reported

in the United States,

including one on the south side

of the White House.

We don't know if these cases

are linked,

we don't have

any idea of the cause,

but some doctors have dubbed it

"the immaculate concussion."

Now that Havana syndrome

is happening outside of Cuba,

it opens up a staggering array

of possibilities.

It doesn't have to be caused

by something developed in Cuba,

but it does have to be something

small enough to be smuggled

into Cuba

and into other countries.

And I'd say that

if these many att*cks

in various countries

are connected,

that pretty much rules out

the accidental theories

like pesticides

or poorly-calibrated

listening devices.

It seems more likely

that this is originating

from a country

with more influence than Cuba.

I don't think they have

the capability

to pull off so many incidents

in so many countries

across the world.

So, the question becomes,

is there a w*apon that could

possibly fit the bill?

Something small, portable,

and in the hands of a government

connected enough

to global politics

to get an advantage from

causing that kind of panic?

When cases of Havana syndrome

start surfacing worldwide

in 2018, U.S. officials

can't find a definitive cause.

But former spies like

Marc Polymeropoulos

believe they know the source.

Obviously, I wasn't there

in Cuba, but when talking

to the victims,

it is very similar

with what I felt at that hotel

in Moscow in 2017.

Polymeropoulos

thinks he's the victim

of a unique deadly w*apon.

Of course, you've heard the word

"microwave" before.

Most of us have microwave ovens

to heat food.

The difference

with a microwave w*apon

is not the fundamental kinds

of waves it's producing.

They're still microwaves.

It's that they're producing them

at much, much higher energy.

In other words,

you've supersized the system.

There's a small device

on the inside of the microwave

that emits tiny, tiny

radiofrequency signals.

And these tiny radiofrequency

signals heats up molecules.

In the case of a microwave

w*apon,

you're not simply heating up

a cup of coffee,

but you're actually heating up

human tissue.

A high-powered microwave w*apon

may explain the symptoms

the nausea, the vertigo,

the headaches,

even the reported sounds.

It can really do a number

on the electro-neurological

functions of the brain.

Unlike a sonic w*apon,

which are very difficult

to focus into a narrow area,

microwaves are very easy

to direct.

You point a microwave one way,

and that's the way it goes.

It will not hit the person

who's f*ring it

or impact

the surrounding neighborhood.

Microwave technology has

been rapidly advancing recently.

Is it possible that a w*apon

has been developed that can

target a single individual,

fit in a suitcase,

and be deployed from

a few hundred yards away?

Well, the U.S. has already

created something pretty close.

In 2004,

the U.S. Marine Corps

commissions the development

of a microwave w*apon

code-named MEDUSA.

MEDUSA, or Mob Excess

Deterrent Using Silent Audio,

this was basically

a nonlethal microwave ray g*n

that could be channeled

at people,

and it could potentially

incapacitate them.

These microwaves can

stimulate the parts

of the inner ear and mimic

an actual audio signal.

This gets interpreted

by the brain as sound.

This is what's called

the Frey effect.

MEDUSA can make you

feel like you're hearing

different kinds of sounds,

even recognizable sounds

like voices inside your head.

This could be the source

of the sounds

reported by those

experiencing Havana syndrome.

Although the U.S. has been

toying with these weapons

for about 20 years,

we know of another country

that has been using them

for longer.

The Russians deployed

a microwave w*apon

against the U.S.

during the Cold w*r.

Starting in 1953

and continuing until 1976,

Soviet authorities aim

a near-constant microwave beam

at the U.S. embassy in Moscow.

Their goal was to

interfere with communications

inside the U.S. embassy.

Intelligence officials

called it the Moscow Signal.

Although they detected it

early on during routine checks,

American officials

kept it quiet.

It's only when the American

ambassador to Russia,

Walter Stoessel,

threatens to resign in 1975,

that members of his staff

are informed.

The embassy officials

get tested,

and many of them have elevated

white blood cell counts.

And Walter Stoessel, like two

of three ambassadors before him,

dies of cancer.

And Stoessel had a severe form

of leukemia

that reportedly caused

his eyes to bleed.

Over 100 employees

file for damages

against the U.S. for exposure

to the Moscow Signal,

but a State Department study

found there was

no convincing evidence

of adverse health effects.

Now, the lawsuits are dropped,

and it basically

fades from public view

until these afflictions,

these mysterious cases

arise in Havana.

Could Havana syndrome

be the next phase

of a decades-old

covert operation?

In my view, what happened to,

you know, my colleagues

at the U.S. embassy

in Havana, Cuba,

and what's happened

to myself and some others

is absolutely a continuation

of what the Soviets

were doing to us

at the U.S. embassy in Moscow.

That said, you know, we do have

another adversaries.

We have the Chinese,

we have the Iranians.

And it is entirely possible

that more than one country

is doing it.

Polymeropoulos isn't

the only spy who believes this.

There's actually another account

that is more shocking than his.

In 1996, NSA Officer Mike Beck

suffers sudden severe fatigue

while on assignment

in a classified foreign country.

This predates Polymeropoulos

and the Havana syndrome cases

by about 20 years,

but Beck and his attorney

believe it's all related.

Beck cannot reveal

what country he was in,

but his attorney stated

it was a hostile nation

that was not China or Cuba.

Beck's job was to go

to a diplomatic building

and make sure that

it wasn't being bugged.

And while there

with his partner,

he does find

a suspicious device.

The very next day,

they both get symptoms

that are now associated

with the Havana syndrome.

Beck fully recovers,

but 10 years later,

both he and his partner

develop the same form

of Parkinson's disease.

Beck is certain

this isn't a coincidence,

so he files a claim

for workers' compensation,

something that people do

every day.

Only, Beck's employer

is the NSA,

and his claim relies

on top-secret information.

Incredibly,

as part of his claim,

the NSA actually provides Beck

with a declassified document

which may finally prove

what happened to him.

The memo Beck was given states,

"there is intelligence

information from 2012

"associating the hostile country

"to which Mr. Beck traveled

in the late 1990s

"with a high-powered

microwave system w*apon

"that may have the ability

to weaken, intimidate,

or k*ll an enemy over time,

and without leaving evidence."

It goes on to say this:

"intelligence information

indicated this w*apon

"is designed to bathe a target's

living quarters in microwaves,

"causing numerous

physical effects,

including a damaged

nervous system."

Is this proof

of the Havana syndrome?

Well, no.

But it does prove

what happened to Beck

may be the same thing

that happened in Havana.

But at the very least,

we now have confirmation

that such a w*apon exists.

And if we ever find evidence

that that w*apon is in Cuba

or some other country,

it may explain everything.

Meanwhile, though we can't say

why it's happening,

we know this illness is real.

And on October 8th, 2021,

Congress passes the Havana Act

to compensate

government officials

who've experienced

brain injuries

as a result of Havana syndrome.

So far, 1,000 people

have come forward

claiming injuries related to

the so-called Havana syndrome.

And while the investigation

remains active,

no concrete evidence

has been found

that a U.S. adversary

is responsible.

I'm Laurence Fishburne.

Thank you for watching

"History's Greatest Mysteries."