‘Like a drill going into my eye’: why the mystery over Havana

Dozens of CIA officers have been afflicted by debilitating symptoms over the past decade. Are they the result of ‘mass hysteria’? Or are they from attacks with an energy weapon and, if so, who is responsible?

And has there been a cover-up? Shortly after 1am one night in April 2019, a CIA officer on a work trip to London was jolted awake in his hotel room by the most intense head pain he had ever experienced. His body was soaked with sweat and he felt like his eyes were spinning in their sockets.

He manoeuvred his way out of bed, hoping to make it to the bathroom to vomit, but found his sense of balance had deserted him. Eventually, he fell back into a fitful, shallow sleep. The mystery of Havana syndrome refuses to die.

Illustration: Alex Mellon for the Guardian: Getty Images View image in fullscreen The mystery of Havana syndrome refuses to die. Illustration: Alex Mellon for the Guardian: Getty Images ‘Like a drill going into my eye’: why the mystery over Havana syndrome refuses to die Dozens of CIA officers have been afflicted by debilitating symptoms over the past decade. The next day, arriving at the work meeting he had travelled for, the officer found he could not remember the names of colleagues in the room, people he knew well.

As the meeting got under way, he could barely follow the discussion. Initially, he chalked it up to a terrible – if rather odd – case of food poisoning.

But over subsequent weeks, worrying symptoms persisted: brain fog, loss of balance and increasingly harsh tinnitus. By September, he had started to feel better and was on another work trip, this time to Poland.

Asleep in his Warsaw hotel room, he was again woken by terrifying head pain, even worse than in London. He later described the sensation as “someone standing over me with a baseball bat and just repeatedly hitting me on the head”.

It was a nine or 10 on the pain scale, he felt, worse than anything he could remember. Two hours later, the same feeling returned, and he started to suspect that what was happening might not be an internal process but rather some external attack.

He dragged himself off the bed and curled up on the floor, where the intense pain subsided somewhat. That was the last time he had the “attack” sensation, but he went on to suffer chronic nerve pain, fatigue and other severe health problems for years.

View image in fullscreen The incidents acquired the name Havana syndrome after the Cuban city where mass reports of the phenomenon first emerged. Photograph: Manon Levet/Hans Lucas/AFP/Getty Images Sources described the man in question as a senior CIA officer who had recently been assigned an important job relating to worldwide operations against Russia.

At the time, he was only vaguely aware of the stories that had emerged from Cuba two years previously, about US diplomats who believed they may have been attacked with a sonic weapon. These incidents, in which people reported feeling a variety of unusual sounds, pressure and pain, followed by residual symptoms that could last for years, had acquired the name Havana syndrome, after the city where mass reports of the phenomenon first emerged.

Later, dozens of CIA officers around the world reported Havana syndrome episodes, which in official documents were called anomalous health incidents (AHIs). Many believed AHIs were the result of a Russian intelligence operation to wound or intimidate covert US operatives using a previously unknown weapon that delivered sonic or pulsed microwave energy.

There was sustained pushback against that theory. Some scientists insisted the idea of a portable weapon that could deliver these injuries belonged in science fiction.

They said a whole range of conditions could cause pain, dizziness and cognitive issues.

Medical Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult with qualified healthcare professionals for medical decisions and treatment options.