What we know about Havana Syndrome

Post Reports

The Washington Post

Daily News, Politics, News

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🗓️ 27 September 2021

⏱️ ? minutes

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Summary

What you need to know about “Havana Syndrome,” the mysterious illness affecting U.S. officials stationed around the world — and whether there’s anything the United States can do about it.

“Havana Syndrome” first popped up in 2016 when a group of people at the U.S. embassy in Cuba reported a wide-ranging set of debilitating symptoms such as headache, nausea, tinnitus and memory loss.

Five years later, 200 people are known to have shown symptoms of the mysterious illness. The Washington Post broke the news that the head of the CIA station in Vienna was recently recalled for allegedly failing to take the “Havana Syndrome” seriously.

Intelligence reporter Shane Harris explains what we know about the strange syndrome, and the possible political repercussions if it is the result of a deliberate attack from a foreign adversary.

Transcript

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0:00.0	If this were a mystery novel, like a Jean-Licaree book, what would be the back cover of this novel?
0:14.0	The back cover would be Russian agents are prowling the streets of Vienna and foreign
0:20.4	capitals, hunting CIA personnel with a microwave weapon that is trying to scramble their brains
0:26.8	and cause permanent injury. That sounds scary. I would read that novel. I would too. I would like to write that
0:36.9	novel. From the newsroom of the Washington Post, this is Post Reports. I'm Martin Powers. It's Monday,
0:47.2	September 27. Over the last few years, a mysterious illness has been reported at US embassies
0:56.6	around the world. Intelligence reporter Shane Harris had a big scoop about it recently,
1:01.2	and it's called Havana Syndrome. 200 people have shown symptoms of it, and even though we don't
1:07.0	know exactly what it is or who might be behind it, one thing is very clear that the US is beginning
1:13.2	to take this very seriously.
1:15.0	So my colleague, John Hudson and I have reported that the CIA has recalled, or you can say,
1:28.2	brought back to Washington, the station chief in Vienna. This is the senior intelligence officer
1:34.5	serving in Vienna and the CIA's representative there. It's a very prestigious important post.
1:40.4	The station chief in Vienna is always a very senior intelligence officer. This individual was
1:46.5	recalled in part due to concerns over his response to this series of mysterious symptoms that
1:56.0	have been experienced by, we think, at least two dozen people working at the embassy, many of them
2:01.6	CIA employees, which are described as Havana Syndrome, or anomalous health incidents as the CIA calls
2:09.7	them. Anomalous health incidents. Anomalous health incident is the roll off the tongue term that the
2:16.3	CIA prefers to use for what is more widely known as Havana Syndrome, which is this constellation of
2:23.0	symptoms, including vertigo, dizziness, nausea, extreme headaches, fatigue that have been experienced
2:30.7	since 2016 when they were first noticed among personnel working US government personnel in Havana,
2:36.5	Cuba, diplomatic personnel there primarily. It's a name that has now taken on the significance of
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