A new government study following more than 80 self-reported victims of ‘Havana syndrome’ found no signs of brain damage – despite also identifying ‘real symptoms’ of the mysterious condition that researchers call ‘quite profound’ and ‘disabling’ mentioned.
Persistent dizziness and balance problems were among the real symptoms in 28 percent of embassy officials and other patients surveyed, according to the report.
But a Georgetown neurologist who conducted early research into the syndrome for the Pentagon’s Special Operations Command tells DailyMail.com that their findings risk creating “a false conclusion that there is nothing wrong with these people’s brains.” happened’.
His criticism adds alarming confirmation to earlier anonymous accounts from a former US intelligence community PhD who told DailyMail.com last year: ‘We know the Soviets had sonic weapons.’
“Anyone in the intelligence community will tell you that the US has had these types of energy weapons for some time,” the anonymous intelligence PhD said last March.
After US officials and embassy staff reported hundreds of cases in nearly 70 countries, the number of new reports of Havana syndrome dropped sharply starting in early 2022. But the mystery of what causes the ailments and alarm remains. (Above a timeline map of key incidents)
Above, an August 5, 2021 motorcade passes the U.S. Embassy in Havana as part of a protest demanding an end to the six-decade U.S. economic embargo on Cuba
Dr. James Giordanowho teaches neurology at Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington DC, was more cautious about the exact cause of the syndrome.
“Let’s not call it a weapon,” Dr. Giordano to DailyMail.com.
“One of the considerations here was that if these individuals were actually exposed to some form of electromagnetic and/or acoustic stimuli,” explained Dr. Giordano explains, ‘the nature of the damage would be functional rather than structural. ‘
He described the new study as consistent with his own 2017 and 2018 analysis of Havana syndrome patients for the U.S. Special Operations Command, which found persistent problems in patients’ brain function but not in their brain structure — consequences that are similar with so-called ‘mini-strokes’. ‘ or cases of transient ischemic attack.
In a statement a year ago in March, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said the “symptoms reported by U.S. personnel were likely due to factors not involving a foreign adversary, such as pre-existing conditions, conventional diseases and environmental factors.”
“Let me be very clear: we are not talking about a functional neurological disorder, that is a psychosomatic disorder,” Dr. Giordano to DailyMail.com.
“We’re talking about a disruption of neurological function, which then caused a host of effects, including downstream physiological effects that manifested cognitively, motorically and behaviorally.”
Contrary to the “mass hysteria” explanation that has plagued the State Department’s self-reported victims of Havana Syndrome, the neurologist compared the findings to a variety of other long-term brain disorders in which physical evidence of the damage quickly disappears.
“Sometimes, when there’s a mini-stroke,” said Dr. Giordano, “very often it doesn’t produce what is a structurally clear artifact (in the brain) that is durable.”
“You may see in evolution some initial changes during the TIA (transient ischemic attack),” he added, “but over time these resolve.”
Cases of “decompression sickness,” or the bends, he noted, have also manifested as mini-strokes or Havana syndrome, causing long-term impairments in brain function that have not been accompanied by visible forms of permanent brain damage.
The new study, published today by the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), performed MRI scans on 81 of 86 State Department employees and their adult family members who reported “abnormal health incidents (AHIs).”
The research team, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Maryland, weighed the results of these MRIs against the MRIs of 48 control participants.
Above, a now public directed energy weapon, an active denial system from the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate in 2017. The device was on display before a “counterpersonnel” demonstration during Weapons and Tactics Instructor course 2-17 at Site 50, Wellton, Arizona
Above, a now-deleted page on the Navy’s website reveals a project codenamed Medusa, a prototype microwave weapon created for the Marine Corps in 2004 that had a “temporary disabling effect” and was small enough to fit in a car
Although the NIH team found a temporary injury, the kind Dr. Giordano described, they still came up with “a lack of evidence for an MRI-detectable difference between individuals with AHIs and control subjects,” said Dr. Leighton Chan of the NIH. .
But 24 of these Havana syndrome patients (28 percent) did show testable signs of a condition called persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD).
PPPD, which can be caused by inner ear problems or stress, occurs when brain networks do not communicate properly, a functional problem that occurs without lasting signs of brain damage.
Neuropsychologist Dr. Louis French, co-author of the new NIH study treating patients with Havana syndrome at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, described the symptoms as a form of “maladaptive response.”
He compared it to patients who have developed a sloppy posture to relieve their back pain, and who then continue to have problems with their posture after that pain is corrected.
Dr. French said he hoped their findings would provide “some reassurance for patients.”
“It allows us to focus on the here and now,” he explained, “and get people back to where they need to be.”
In June 2023, the State Department became sufficiently convinced of the reality of the Havana Syndrome (whatever the cause) that six-figure payments to the victims, roughly between $100,000 and $200,000, were prepared for embassy staff.
The specific amounts, according to the Associated presswere scaled according to the extent and severity of the victims’ injuries, “including brain damage not limited to dizziness, cognitive damage, vision and hearing problems.”
Despite the lack of visible scarring in their MRI tests, the NIH doctors behind the new study expressed sympathy for the affected diplomats and the legitimacy of their health complaints.
“These individuals have real symptoms and are going through a very difficult time,” noted Dr. Chan, chief of rehabilitation medicine at the NIH and lead author of the study.
‘They can be quite profound, disabling and difficult to treat.’