Havana syndrome first showed up in—no surprise here—Havana, Cuba, in 2016, when CIA officers and State Department employees first reported distress. In the years since, reported Havana syndrome cases among US foreign officers have popped up in Moscow, China, London, Virginia, and, most recently, Vienna and Germany.
In July, the New Yorker declared Vienna, which has a long history as a playground for spies, the new “Havana syndrome hotspot.” About 24 US spies and diplomats have reported symptoms since Biden took office.
What’s causing it? Health officials aren’t sure, but they’ve suggested what’s happening to these victims is not unlike what happens to a Hot Pocket when you heat it up. Last year, a committee of 19 experts said their best guesswas that victims were hit with “directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy” that includes microwaves.
Who’s behind it? Let’s see...mysterious microwaves directed at American officers in cities all over the world...sounds like something straight out of the Cold War playbook. Bingo. Officials working for both the Biden and Trump administrations have privately blamed Russia’s military intelligence unit, the GRU, whom they suspect may be using the pulsed energy attacks to steal data from computers or smartphones.