A CIA whistleblower has said Americans should be “terrified” by the government’s alleged gaslighting of former intelligence operatives who believe they are affected by the “Havana syndrome.”
The medically retired CIA officer spoke anonymously to an investigative journalist Catherine Herridge about her experience with the debilitating mystery disorder, and how authorities have treated her since.
Using the pseudonym Alice, the former CIA employee said she spent two years in government service and suffered from ‘Havana Syndrome’ – also known as health abnormalities (AHIs).
The syndrome is a controversial medical condition experienced by a cluster of U.S. and Canadian government officials based in a dozen overseas locations that began in 2016 among workers in Havana.
Symptoms include dizziness, cognitive problems, insomnia and headaches. The most prominent theory is that it is caused by pulsed electromagnetic energy and ultrasound from sonic weapons.
Alice told Herridge that her injuries are so debilitating that she relies on a service dog. She required several breaks during the interview and wore dark-tinted glasses to protect her eyes from the studio lighting.
“I was serving in Africa and had an abnormal health incident at my home on Saturday evening,” Alice told Herridge.
‘I heard a strange noise. It was a very strange sound that I will never, ever forget… and after about a second or two I felt it in my feet, kind of like the reverb from a loudspeaker.’
A CIA whistleblower (pictured) has said Americans should be ‘terrified’ about government gaslighting of former intelligence operatives who believe they are affected by ‘Havana Syndrome’
One of the sonic weapons that could cause Havana Syndrome is believed to be a smaller version of this 1990s Soviet microwave generator kept at the University of New Mexico.
Alice said she went to the bedroom to ask her partner if he could hear the unpleasant noise too.
“I said, ‘Hey, you hear that weird noise?’ And the first sign that something was wrong, I should have known, was when he said, “What noise?”
Alice went back to where she heard the noise. “Immediately, as soon as I walked back into the room, I heard the noise again,” she said.
‘My ear started to hurt. I started to get dizzy.
‘The room was spinning, my head started to throb. It hurt so much and I had a lot of pain in my left ear, my ears started ringing and I thought I was going to pass out.”
Alice said she believes various, hidden weapons could be behind the strange symptoms she and many of her colleagues are experiencing, adding that she thinks Moscow is to blame.
“I think there are guns that fit in backpacks, guns that fit in the trunks of cars, guns that can be planted where people can see from across the street,” she said.
“I believe the Russian GRU (Russian Military Intelligence) came to my house late at night and took me from the battlefield,” she added.
When asked if her old self died the day she had an AHI, Alice replied, “A little bit.” I got paid for my brains. I was paid for my ability to write well and write for the president.
“I was paid to meet with foreigners and get information that would help advance U.S. security objectives … and I can’t do that the way I used to, and that’s really one of the hardest parts.”
Symptoms of Havana syndrome include loud noise, ear pain, intense pressure or vibration on the head, dizziness, visual problems, and cognitive problems
The syndrome first emerged at the US Embassy in Havana (pictured) when government workers suddenly developed the mysterious illness.
But Alice said the CIA has tricked her and other AHI survivors in recent years by making them “question our own wounds.”
“We took this oath and every day I see how they continue to deny people’s humanity and their injuries,” she told Herridge.
“People who are risking themselves and their families in terrible, terribly dangerous places and situations to protect this country.”
Speaking about the intelligence community, she added, “If they’re going to politicize this, what else are they not telling the president?”
“It’s a cover-up and it’s terrifying and it should be terrifying to all Americans.”
Herridge said the Labor Department lists Alice’s Traumatic Brain Injury, or TBI, as a “work injury,” and she was eligible for some compensation through the Havana Act — but not nearly enough to cover her medical costs.
“It’s one full-time job to get medical treatment and another full-time job to try to deal with the bureaucracy that comes with accessing benefits,” she said. “I spent over a hundred thousand dollars out of my own pocket.”
Alice said AHI survivors require specialized care that is not covered by typical health insurance.
‘The reality is that a normal doctor cannot help us. This is different. AHIs are much more complicated and we are essentially ticking off time bombs,” she said.
‘Catherine, I have to go to funerals already. Friends of mine, I mean my friend who was with me the day I got my dog, has already passed away…a fellow AHI survivor, from a rare form of cancer.
‘I have friends in nursing homes. I have friends with dementia and Parkinson’s. In some ways, people have a heart attack and if it doesn’t kill you, we know how to recover from a heart attack. We don’t know how to solve this.’
There have been several studies on Havana syndrome by government and non-governmental agencies, but none have been able to determine the cause.
They found that foreign adversaries are unlikely to be the cause of AHIs, and considered energy weapons and psychological causes such as stress as possible causes.
A March 2024 letter obtained by Herridge from the former head of the DoD Cross-Functional AHI team, Brigadier General Shannon O’Harren, stated that they believed in Havana Syndrome victims.
“We believe your experiences are real and we are unwaveringly committed to continuing to provide quality care to you and those who qualify,” the letter reads.
“The Department of Defense believes us and has actually gone to war for those of us from across the U.S. government. I wouldn’t be getting care if it wasn’t for senior leadership from the Department of Defense,” Alice told Herridge.
But she had sterner words for the CIA. When asked why she was speaking out now, Alice said, “Because the CIA is committing treason and not only betraying it, but making my friends and my life hell. I want them to stop hurting my friends.
“I want them to give everyone I care about medical care and Havana Act payments and take care of us in the long term.
“I want them to stop denying what is happening to us so that opportunities can arise to gather the information we need so we can prevent this from happening to more people.”