The Havana Syndrome that befell CIA officers, is an explosive, inside account of the mysterious attacks on U.S. officials around the world via an unseen, highly specialized weapon that has left dozens of victims with life-altering injuries, and the U.S. Government’s attempt to cover it up- with alarming new evidence from two CBS journalists.

For nearly a decade, U.S. diplomats, spies, and soldiers around the world have reported sudden, devastating neurologist injuries- symptoms eerily consistent with exposure to direct energy weapon. Victims were told their illnesses were “psychosomatic.”  Government agencies dismissed the evidence. And the CIA insisted no adversary was behind it. As the cases grew from Havana to Hanoi, the media dubbed the phenomenon “the Havana Syndrome.”

In this ground-breaking exposé, 60 Minutes producers Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados reveal the hidden history of the so-called Havana Syndrome, from early attacks in Cuba and China, to the spread across global hotspots from Tbilisi to Vienna to the mounting evidence implicating an elite Russian “kill” unit. Drawing on more than nine years of reporting, including secret medical records, whistle blower testimony, and intelligence reports, they expose not only the technology behind the attacks but the U.S. Government’s efforts to downplay and deny them.

Combing the pace of a thriller and the authority of rigorous investigative journalism, this brings readers inside the lives of officers like “Adam” and “Poly,” whose careers and health were destroyed by the attacks, and Lt. Col. Greg Edgreen, the Pentagon investigator who risked everything to demand accountability. The Havana Syndrome is both a geopolitical saga with chilling consequences for national security and a deeply human story of betrayal and resilience.

It all started on December 2016, first Adam, an undercover CIA officer who was relaxing at a home in Havana, suddenly fell ill, having struck by a splitting headache, felt dizzy, heard a strange sound and experienced an odd sensation of pressure to his body,  tinnitus and vertigo, then a second, then others, followed by yet more, each exhibiting the same mysterious, concussion-like symptoms having struck by some kind of invisible blow. A few sustained permanent brain damage.

The CIA officers and their family members in other countries began being struck by debilitating headaches accompanied by strange sounds, an officer in a Moscow hotel room; an officer’s wife in the Chinese city of Guangzhou; officers posted in Beijing, Hanoi, Vienna and other capitals around the world.

One officer was hit when staying at a London hotel, but others were struck down in the Washington area. In the Austrian capital, no fewer than five children of CIA officers succumbed to the sudden illness, and so did a string of pets in various cities.

It is chilling to discover how political expediency took priority over the wellbeing of Americans serving their nation. At one point, duo reports, CIA director Gina Haspel refused to bring evidence of Russian involvement to President Donald Trump’s attention: “Haspel shouted that if she took report like this to President Trump she’d ne fired as director.”

The apparent attacker of joy, the wife of a CIA officer posted to Tbilisi, who “ was hit by a piercing sound in her left ear and was blasted by a wave of pressure that knocked her sideways”, is the  son of the commander of Unit 29155, the Russian GRU’s division in charge of foreign subversion.

The case in Tbilisi in 2021, while chapter three concerns a case in Russia four years earlier. The Havana Syndrome offers our best insight into what is still officially an unresolved episode.

The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a government Cover-up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time by Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados, WH Allen £22/Crown $33, 336 pages.

Chilling consequences for national security: betrayal and resilience

The Havana Syndrome that befell CIA officers, is an explosive, inside account of the mysterious attacks on U.S. officials around the world via an unseen, highly specialized weapon that has left dozens of victims with life-altering injuries, and the U.S. Government’s attempt to cover it up- with alarming new evidence from two CBS journalists.

For nearly a decade, U.S. diplomats, spies, and soldiers around the world have reported sudden, devastating neurologist injuries- symptoms eerily consistent with exposure to direct energy weapon. Victims were told their illnesses were “psychosomatic.”  Government agencies dismissed the evidence. And the CIA insisted no adversary was behind it. As the cases grew from Havana to Hanoi, the media dubbed the phenomenon “the Havana Syndrome.”

In this ground-breaking exposé, 60 Minutes producers Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados reveal the hidden history of the so-called Havana Syndrome, from early attacks in Cuba and China, to the spread across global hotspots from Tbilisi to Vienna to the mounting evidence implicating an elite Russian “kill” unit. Drawing on more than nine years of reporting, including secret medical records, whistle blower testimony, and intelligence reports, they expose not only the technology behind the attacks but the U.S. Government’s efforts to downplay and deny them.

Combing the pace of a thriller and the authority of rigorous investigative journalism, this brings readers inside the lives of officers like “Adam” and “Poly,” whose careers and health were destroyed by the attacks, and Lt. Col. Greg Edgreen, the Pentagon investigator who risked everything to demand accountability. The Havana Syndrome is both a geopolitical saga with chilling consequences for national security and a deeply human story of betrayal and resilience.

It all started on December 2016, first Adam, an undercover CIA officer who was relaxing at a home in Havana, suddenly fell ill, having struck by a splitting headache, felt dizzy, heard a strange sound and experienced an odd sensation of pressure to his body,  tinnitus and vertigo, then a second, then others, followed by yet more, each exhibiting the same mysterious, concussion-like symptoms having struck by some kind of invisible blow. A few sustained permanent brain damage.

The CIA officers and their family members in other countries began being struck by debilitating headaches accompanied by strange sounds, an officer in a Moscow hotel room; an officer’s wife in the Chinese city of Guangzhou; officers posted in Beijing, Hanoi, Vienna and other capitals around the world.

One officer was hit when staying at a London hotel, but others were struck down in the Washington area. In the Austrian capital, no fewer than five children of CIA officers succumbed to the sudden illness, and so did a string of pets in various cities.

It is chilling to discover how political expediency took priority over the wellbeing of Americans serving their nation. At one point, duo reports, CIA director Gina Haspel refused to bring evidence of Russian involvement to President Donald Trump’s attention: “Haspel shouted that if she took report like this to President Trump she’d ne fired as director.”

The apparent attacker of joy, the wife of a CIA officer posted to Tbilisi, who “ was hit by a piercing sound in her left ear and was blasted by a wave of pressure that knocked her sideways”, is the  son of the commander of Unit 29155, the Russian GRU’s division in charge of foreign subversion.

The case in Tbilisi in 2021, while chapter three concerns a case in Russia four years earlier. The Havana Syndrome offers our best insight into what is still officially an unresolved episode.

The Havana Syndrome: Secret Weapons, a government Cover-up, and the Greatest Spy Mystery of Our Time by Michael Rey and Oriana Zill de Granados, WH Allen £22/Crown $33, 336 pages.