The Pentagon has shelled out hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund experiments on 48 ferrets and an unknown number of primates to determine whether they could recreate the symptoms of Havana Syndrome.
According to a usaspending.gov grant summary, the US Army awarded researchers at Michigan’s Wayne State University $750,000 last September to study the impact of radio frequency (RF) waves on ferrets, exposing them for two hours a day for 60 consecutive days to build up an “exposure profile” similar to that reported by embassy personnel and intelligence agents suffering from Havana Syndrome. Separately, the military is reported to have used pulsed radio frequency sources on primates to see if they match “anomalous health incidents” (AHIs) – the term used by the government to describe Havana Syndrome symptoms, including headache, nausea, ringing in the ears and hearing loss thought to be caused by high-pitched sounds.
The Pentagon “continues to address the challenges posed by AHI, including the causation, attribution, mitigation, identification and treatment for such incidents. Our foremost concern remains providing care to affected individuals – since the health and well being of our personnel are our top priority,” a DoD spokesperson told media when asked to address the animal testing studies.
A People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) spokeswoman blasted the Pentagon over its experiments, saying the justification to expose monkeys to microwave radiation and “bombard” ferret brains with radio waves has been “debunked,” and that the cruel research is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
However, Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA officer who claims that he was hit by a “directed energy attack” during a mission in Moscow in 2017, praised the animal testing, saying it could “be integral to us finally finding out what happened to the AHI victims as we will be able to compare the imaging that was done on our brains to what will be seen from animals who are subject to radio frequency waves.”
Wayne State University is no stranger to controversy over its experimentation on animals, including brutal trials to artificially trigger heart failure in dogs using implants burrowed under the animals’ skin.
The university’s summary of the ferret research is based on the premise that the AHI effects suffered by human personnel was the result of “occult exposure to radio frequency waves” attributed to foreign hostile actors (i.e. Russia).
However, a bombshell admission by US officials last week revealed that it was “very unlikely” that the Havana Syndrome was caused by targeted directed energy weapon attacks by any foreign adversaries.
“I want to be absolutely clear: these findings do not call into question the experiences and real health issues that US government personnel and their family members – including the CIA’s own officers –have reported while serving our country,” CIA director William Burns said of the report released last week. “We will continue to remain alert to any risks to the health and well being of agency officers, to ensure access to care, and to provide officers the compassion and respect they deserve,” Burns added.
The Biden administration has granted some sufferers of Havana Syndrome with payouts of between $100,000 and $200,000, despite continued uncertainty about what caused their sickness.
A declassified 2018 State Department report made public in 2021 concluded that the high-frequency noises associated with the Havana Syndrome were likely caused by mating crickets. Some experts believe that the illness is psychosomatic – that is, the result of stress or emotional distress, not external interference or intrusion.
US officials and diplomats have typically reported Havana Syndrome symptoms in hostile postings abroad, including Cuba (the first cases of the illness were reported in the Cuban capital in 2016), Russia, Serbia and China. However, US officials have also reported suffering from the illness in Western and Central Europe, Britain, Australia, Colombia, India and Taiwan.