US federal agencies are investigating at least two possible incidents on US soil, including one near the White House in November last year, that appear similar to mysterious and invisible attacks that have triggered debilitating symptoms for dozens of US officials abroad.
Various sources familiar with the matter tell Citizen Free Press that while the Pentagon and other agencies investigating the matter have not reached clear conclusions about what happened, the fact that such an attack took place so close to the White House is particularly alarming.
Defense officials briefed lawmakers from the House and Senate Armed Services Committees on the matter earlier this month, including the incident near the White House. That incident, which occurred near the Ellipse, the large oval terrain on the south side of the White House, sickened a National Security Council official, according to multiple current and former US officials and sources familiar with the matter.
In a separate 2019 episode, a White House official reported a similar attack while walking his dog in a Virginia suburb outside of Washington, GQ reported last year.
The sick reported symptoms similar to those suffered by affected CIA and State Department officials abroad, and officials quickly began investigating the incident as a possible attack of the “Havana syndrome.” That name refers to unexplained symptoms that US personnel in Cuba began to experience in late 2016: a variable set of complaints including earache, vertigo, stabbing headaches, and nausea, sometimes accompanied by a ‘penetrating directional noise’. ” unidentified.
Rumors have long swirled in Washington about similar incidents within the United States. While recent episodes around Washington appear similar to previous apparent attacks involving diplomats, CIA officials, and other U.S. personnel serving in Cuba, Russia, and China, investigators have not determined whether the puzzling incidents in the country are related to those that have occurred abroad or that may be behind them, sources tell Citizen Free Press.
Defense officials who briefed lawmakers said it was possible that Russia was behind the attacks, but did not have enough information to say for sure. Another former US official involved in the investigation at the time said China was also among the suspects.
The United States has struggled to understand these attacks since 2016 and 2017, when diplomatic and intelligence personnel in Cuba began reporting alarming symptoms that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Intelligence and defense officials have been reluctant to speak publicly about the strange incidents, and some of those affected have publicly complained that the CIA did not take the matter seriously enough, at least initially.
The attacks eventually led to a dramatic downsizing at the outpost in Havana under the Trump administration. Russian and Chinese staff reported similar unexplained incidents. Although there is no consensus on the causes of the symptoms, a study sponsored by the State Department found that they were likely the result of microwave energy attacks.