Article U.S. military tested device may be tied to Havana Syndrome ("60 Minutes" spy vs spy)

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U.S. military tested device that may be tied to Havana Syndrome on rats, sheep, confidential sources say
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-military...ranscript/

EXCERPTS: Microwaves are a range of frequences in the electromagnetic spectrum. Various microwave frequencies are generated by your oven, radar systems, TV transmitters. Even your phone, WiFi and Bluetooth use microwaves. Dr. David Relman told us his investigations found that one country had done a great deal of research on creating something different: a unique pattern of microwaves that can damage the brain.

Dr. David Relman: In both of our investigations we found the large majority of work to have been conducted in the former Soviet Union. And what they found was that effects could range from loss of consciousness to seizures to memory lapses, inability to concentrate, headaches, intense pressure, pain, disorientation, difficulty with balance, many of the things that we heard about from victims of Havana Syndrome.

[...] 60 Minutes has learned details of a classified microwave weapon that may explain mysterious brain injuries suffered by U.S. officials. We've been investigating these injuries for nine years. And now, our sources tell us this microwave weapon is portable, concealable and uses relatively little power.

Hundreds of possible attacks have been reported including, we've learned, at CIA headquarters in Virginia and at least two incidents on the grounds of the White House. For years, the government doubted the stories of the injured. But now the victims, including former CIA officer Marc Polymeropoulos, hope that word of a newly discovered weapon will finally vindicate them.

[...] Our confidential sources tell us the still classified weapon has been tested in a U.S. military lab for more than a year. Tests on rats and sheep show injuries consistent with those seen in humans. Also, as a separate part of the investigation, security camera videos have been collected that show Americans being hit. The videos are classified but they were described to us.

In one, a camera in a restaurant in Istanbul captured two FBI agents on vacation sitting at a table with their families. A man with a backpack walks in and suddenly everyone at the table grabs their head as if in pain. Our sources say another video comes from a stairwell in the U.S. embassy in Vienna. The stairs lead to a secure facility. In the video, two people on the stairs suddenly collapse.

Those videos and the weapon were among the reasons the Biden administration summoned about half a dozen victims to the White House with about two months left in the president's term... (MORE - missing details)

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Selling fear and half-truths: The latest 60 Minutes ‘exposé’ on Havana Syndrome
https://www.skeptic.com/article/selling-...-syndrome/

EXCERPTS: 60 Minutes is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious and successful news programs in American television history. For decades it has been the gold standard in investigative reporting and has won every major award in broadcast journalism since its inception in 1968. Over the past decade the program has aired four exposés on “Havana Syndrome,” a mysterious clustering of health complaints first noticed by U.S. government officials in Havana, Cuba in 2016 (hence the name). However, for the past three years its reputation has been tarnished by two separate intelligence assessments that have challenged and discredited key elements of their investigations.

Immediately after their third report aired in March 2024, which claimed that an elite Russian military unit was targeting Americans with an energy weapon, the segment prompted calls for a renewed congressional investigation. Yet the CIA Director in the Biden Administration, William Burns, responded to the broadcast by issuing a firm assurance that the claims had been thoroughly investigated and were unfounded. This conclusion was reaffirmed in an updated intelligence assessment that was issued in 2025.

On Sunday March 8, 2026, 60 Minutes aired its fourth investigation into “Havana Syndrome” in nine years, once again making dramatic claims that American spies, diplomats, and military personnel have been targeted by a mysterious weapon, first in Havana, and later around the world. The three previous segments were critiqued in the pages of Skeptic as they relied heavily on speculation with limited physical evidence, while largely excluding skeptical perspectives. The latest chapter in this saga is no different, repeating old, discredited claims and introducing a striking new allegation that the government purchased a Havana Syndrome-type device on the Russian black market.

[...] The 60 Minutes segment also reported that in 2024 undercover U.S. government agents obtained a portable microwave weapon from a Russian criminal network and have tested it on animals. They said that the Pentagon-funded mission to obtain the weapon cost about $15 million. For being the centerpiece of this story, they provide few details. Pelley said “Our confidential sources tell us the still classified weapon has been tested in a U.S. military lab for more than a year. Tests on rats and sheep show injuries consistent with those seen in humans.” The problem with this claim is that there is no credible evidence that the victims of “Havana Syndrome” were injured by a weapon. 60 Minutes didn’t break this story; that distinction goes to CNN, who this year reported on their investigation into the same device, but their perspective was in sharp contrast to the 60 Minutes claims. The CNN sources said there was an ongoing debate and skepticism over attempts to link the device to “Havana Syndrome.”34

The claims by 60 Minutes are based on anonymous sources rather than technical reports, there are no test results, and they did not even obtain a picture of the device! (MORE - missing details)