The CIA is using a veteran of the hunt for al Qaeda terrorist Osama bin Laden to try and get to the bottom of a series of mysterious “directed energy” attacks against U.S. personnel serving at consulates and embassies around the world since 2016.
The attacks cause a variety of bizarre symptoms that appeared out of nowhere to operatives and spies serving at U.S. facilities at home and abroad, The Hill reported Wednesday.
The symptoms include hearing high pitched sounds, steady “pulses of energy” in the head, pain, nausea, dizziness, and several other “bizarre” sensations, the WebMD website said.
The symptoms mirror “Havana Syndrome,” labeled after several American spies and operatives in Cuba first reported them in 2016.
The incidents continued around the globe, at a U.S. Consulate in China, a U.S. facility in Russia, as well as other countries in the Middle East, Europe, and even on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C., just miles away from the White House.
Another 20 U.S. personnel serving at the U.S. Consulate in Vienna, Austria, recently reported symptoms adding that facility to the list of places the syndrome has struck.
So far, officials estimate the number of victims to now be more than 200, many of whom report ongoing symptoms and the inability to work.
Vienna is currently hosting indirect talks between the United States and Iran about re-starting the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal that former President Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of.
The number of cases in the Vienna incident are the largest next to the initial reports in Havana.
A study by the National Academics of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in December 2020 said that directed pulse radio frequency energy is the likely cause of the syndrome, but also said it could not “rule out” other causes or “mechanisms” because of the variability of the cases involved.
Those other causes could be using microwave energy as a directed energy weapon, according to officials, who also say they suspect Russia may be behind the attacks, but do not yet have evidence to support the claim.
The CIA is hoping for the unnamed chief of the task force on the syndrome, who has experience in counter terrorism, and was a big part of hunting down and killing Osama bin Laden, will shed additional light on its cause and who may be behind the attacks.
The CIA did not comment on the story in The Hill.