From Cafe in the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is Stay Tune in Brief.

I'm your host, Pete Barara.

This week we're going to talk about the so-called Havana Syndrome, a mysterious set of medical

symptoms first experienced by US diplomats stationed in Cuba in late 2016.

Since then, hundreds of diplomats and intelligence officers around the world have reported similar

symptoms, debilitating headaches, dizziness, and memory loss.

What started as a medical mystery has become a major national security concern.

The CIA under President Biden has made it a priority to investigate the causes of these

incidents.

But what have they learned so far?

To discuss these efforts, I'm joined by Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter

for the New York Times covering the intelligence community.

Julian, welcome to the show.

Thanks for having me on.

So you've been all over this for a long time and I really appreciate the service of your

reporting.

Can we start with something very basic?

What exactly is the Havana Syndrome as we know it?

What's the frequency of it?

What's the magnitude of it?

So those should be easy questions, but they're not.

The Havana Syndrome is a set of symptoms which you describe reoccurring headaches, dizziness,

...