New Twist In ‘Havana Syndrome’: US Acquires Suspected Device

PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF (PDB) – Purchased in an undercover operation, the Pentagon has spent more than a year testing a device that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of serious and mysterious ailments impacting U.S. spies, diplomats, and troops that are colloquially known as Havana Syndrome.

A division of DHS, Homeland Security Investigations, purchased the device for millions of dollars in the waning days of the Biden administration, using Pentagon funding.

The backpack portable device is still being studied, and there is ongoing debate — and in some quarters of government, skepticism — over its link to roughly dozens of anomalous health incidents that remain officially unexplained.

The device produces pulsed electromagnetic energy or radio waves, which some experts have speculated for years could be the cause of the incidents. Although the device is not entirely Russian in origin, it contains Russian components.

Officials have struggled to understand how devices powerful enough to cause the kind of damage some victims have reported could be made portable; that remains a core question.

The acquisition of the device has reignited a painful and contentious debate within the government about Havana Syndrome, known officially as “anomalous health episodes.”

The intelligence community has consistently downplayed the possibility of an adversary using any kind of weapon to cause Havana Syndrome ailments, which has long incensed victims, many of whom believe strongly that intelligence exists offering clear evidence that Russia is behind their symptoms.

Current and former CIA officers have raised concerns the agency soft-pedaled its investigation. The acquisition has been treated by some victims as potential vindication.

“If the [US government] has indeed uncovered such devices, then CIA owes all the victims a f**king major and public apology for how we have been treated as pariahs,” said one of the first CIA officers to go public with injuries he sustained in an attack in Moscow in 2017.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY – Here’s a roundup of today’s other top defense news from conservative national security expert PAUL CRESPO.

THE PDB – Not the President’s Daily Briefing, but almost as good – PAUL’S DEFENSE BRIEF:    

NATIONAL SECURITY

How DEI caused a military recruitment crisis. The Biden administration aggressively discouraged straight, white, Christian recruits with its self-righteous, racist ideology of diversity, equity, and inclusion at the Pentagon. Secretary Hegseth’s “reset” invites everyone to serve. And it is working!

Greenland or NATO? Trump can’t have both. It isn’t for sale, and the consequences of a military takeover would be dire. In a sign of stark conflict between Europe and the U.S., Secretary of State Marco Rubio will meet with Danish leaders to discuss the fate of Greenland. President Trump has made his intentions clear.

HOMELAND SECURITY

The Trump administration made good on its pledge to label three Middle Eastern branches of the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organizations, imposing sanctions on them and their members in a decision that could have implications for U.S. relationships with allies in the region.

DEFENSE POLITICS

Pentagon to invest $1B in L3Harris spinoff solid rocket motor firm in first-of-its-kind deal.

Pentagon embracing Elon Musk’s AI chatbot Grok, which will join Google’s generative AI engine in operating inside the Pentagon network, as part of a broader push to feed as much of the military’s data as possible into the developing technology.

US POWER OVERSEAS

Army restructuring advisory force born of global war on terrorism, transferring responsibility to newly created Western Hemisphere Command and retaining two regionally focused brigades as it scales back a mission that once spanned the globe.

U.S. delivered critical military equipment to Nigeria, reinforcing security cooperation with Africa’s most populous nation as it seeks to curb terrorism, banditry, and kidnappings that have destabilized large parts of the country.

As Indo-Pacific risks grow, Marines on Okinawa reshape command for faster response. Marine Corps’ only permanently deployed expeditionary brigade stood up a new headquarters company, aligning it with the Japanese amphibious brigade to streamline joint humanitarian and warfighting missions in the region.

The Air Force has changed entry procedures at its largest base in South Korea following a search-and-seizure operation conducted there by South Korean officials last year.

VENEZUELA RAID AFTERMATH

After Maduro: Trump’s managed authoritarianism trap in Venezuela. It’s early days, but Team Trump’s approach to Venezuela is quickly coming into focus.

Ousted Venezuelan narco dictator Nicolás Maduro is facing a legal battle that could take years as he awaits trial for narcoterrorism offenses in one of the worst prisons in New York.

Maduro faces a legal ordeal while he waits in the prison known as “hell on earth.”

How Nicolas Maduro and his wife can expect to be treated in jail.

U.S. military intervention in Venezuela this month and missile strikes in Iran in June enhanced America’s deterrence of its adversaries in Asia by demonstrating “capabilities and will,” the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said.

CHINA THREAT

In a high-profile summit, leaders of Japan and South Korea — two of the U.S.’ staunchest allies — put on display unity in the face of rising economic, technological, and military pressures from China, irritating Beijing.

Japan’s Defense Minister called on “like-minded” Indo-Pacific nations to link defense and capability efforts to counter potential conflict in the region during his keynote address at the Honolulu Defense Forum in Hawaii.

Ex-Navy sailor/traitor/spy convicted of selling technical and operating manuals for ships and operating systems to a Chinese intelligence officer was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison.

Top leaders in India and China want to maintain the peace along their border and are working to bridge the trust deficit between the militaries of the two countries.

EUROPEAN DEFENSE

NATO foes’ High North incursions are “not for peaceful purposes.” The Arctic is rapidly becoming a front line for NATO competition with Russia and China, as adversaries expand their presence in the High North and probe alliance defenses, a top U.S. general in Europe said.

U.S. shipyard Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) has doubled the footprint of its site on the south coast of the U.K. as it seeks to service its growing business of unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) for the Royal Navy and other navies in western and northern Europe.

Germany has ordered eight MQ-9B SeaGuardian remotely piloted aircraft from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems in a $1.77 billion contract through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.

IRAN CRISIS

U.S.-based activists said the death toll in the Iranian government’s crackdown on the largest protests since the 1979 revolution had passed 2,000. While an enduring internet blackout has made it impossible to know the full scale of the violence, some Iranians have been able to report what they’ve seen via phone calls.

Iran’s Islamic Republic will not last. Under the cover of a total internet shutdown that has now lasted more than 100 hours, Iran’s security forces have unleashed absolute brutality on protesters, killing at least 2,000 people. Rather than hiding its crimes, the regime has broadcast footage from the morgue on state television.  The news anchor casually declared that the bodies were mostly those of “ordinary people.”

US MILITARY

Pentagon’s Joint Interagency Task Force 401 will soon deploy counter-drone technology that uses nets to capture intruding unmanned aerial systems.

Boosting soldier ingenuity is the focus of a new Army-commissioned study. You’re on a two-day patrol mission near an unknown village that might be hostile when your transport vehicle runs out of fuel. You can’t communicate with your headquarters element, but you know you need to act soon. What do you do?

The Army will field the long-anticipated Bell MV-75 tiltrotor aircraft this year ahead of the former schedule.

The Air Force is clamping down on digital multitasking while on duty, ending a previous policy that allowed airmen to use phones and other digital devices while walking in uniform.

END of PDB

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.

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