‘Havana Syndrome’ first reported by CIA officer in Cuba

In late 2016, a year after the United States reopened its embassy in Cuba, a CIA officer working undercover at the embassy reports a list of health symptoms—including dizziness, pressure headaches and hearing loss—that he believes are related to a high-pitched buzzing sound in his Havana apartment. The unnamed officer, known as “Patient Zero,” describes the sound as a “sonic beam” aimed directly at his head.

He wasn’t alone. In the years that followed, more than 1,500 U.S. officials—including CIA officers, FBI agents, White House staff and their families—reported similar "anomalous health incidents” in dozens of foreign countries. Some victims experienced long-term symptoms like migraines, impaired vision and memory loss that were consistent with traumatic brain injury.

Dubbed “Havana Syndrome” by the media, many of its victims publicly claimed they were targeted by some kind of secret, high-tech weapon capable of emitting directed pulses of microwaves. Since most people affected by Havana Syndrome were American spies or diplomats, the alleged attacks were blamed on hostile foreign governments like Cuba, Russia or China.

U.S. intelligence agencies investigated the claims and determined that it was “very unlikely” that a foreign adversary was responsible for the widespread reports of Havana Syndrome. Still their analysis left open the possibility that enemies of the U.S. had developed devices capable of harming U.S. officials and their families abroad.

An alternative explanation proposed that the outbreak of Havana Syndrome was a “mass psychogenic illness”—a form of collective hysteria experienced by people working in stressful environments.

Whatever the underlying cause, the painful symptoms of Havana Syndrome were real, and in 2021, Congress passed the HAVANA Act (Helping American Victims Afflicted by Neurological Attacks Act) to financially compensate U.S. officials affected by the mysterious condition.

In 2026, unnamed sources at the Pentagon told CNN that the U.S. government had purchased a backpack-sized device in 2024 that may be capable of emitting pulses of radio frequency energy. The sources said the Pentagon was testing the mysterious device, which they said contained Russian components, to determine if it could cause the types of symptoms consistent with Havana Syndrome. The Pentagon, Department of Homeland Security and the CIA declined to comment.