Warning Russian intelligence about microwave attacks against U.S. diplomatic personnel, 65-year-old CIA William Burns continued the Biden administration’s war-like rhetoric against Russian President Vladimir Putin. Burns has no idea who, if anyone, has been targeting U.S. diplomatic personnel, starting in Havana, Cuba, but also in Vienna, Austria, Guangzhou, China, and other place reporting microwave attacks.. Burns said Russia would face “consequences” if U.S. intel agencies, including the CIA and FBI, determine that Russia was behind the attacks. Whatever Moscow’s involvement in microwave attacks, Burns should not, as CIA director, announce to the world what, if anything, the U.S. intends to do about microwave-type attacks. Burns met with top officials in the Russia Federal Security Service [FSB] and it foreign Intelligence Service [SVR] earlier this month.
With U.S.-Russian relations at a low point, threatening a NATO response if Putin moves the Russian army into parts of Ukraine’s Donbass region, Burns’ warning only makes a bad situation worse. If U.S. intel agencies determine that Russia’s behind microwave attacks against U.S. diplomatic personnel, the U.S. should quietly go about planning a response. Now that Burns issued a formal warning, Putin’s government will be on high alert for a possible response. Burns, under instructions from 79-year-old President Joe Biden, issued the warning knowing the repercussions. When Burns talks about “consequences” to Russia, he’s most likely talking about more sanctions, something Putin regards as an act of war. Until Burns has categorical proof that Russia’s behind the microwave attacks of U.S. diplomatic personnel, he shouldn’t be going public with his accusations.
Biden and his 59-year-old Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been throwing their weight around with Russia and China since taking office. Former President Donald Trump left U.S. Russian and Chinese relations in far better shape that it is today. Biden’s campaign against Trump blamed Trump for cozying up to dictators like North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Whether admitted to or not, the U.S. under Trump had far better relations with U.S. adversaries, not because Trump was sucking up but because he had a keener sense of diplomacy. Burn’s recent gaffe-warning to Putin, does exactly the opposite of what’s intended. Instead of encouraging Russian cooperation in the Havana Syndrome mystery, it invites Russia to take more defensive actions to guard against possible retaliation. Neither Putin nor Xi are inclined to help U.S. foreign relations.
Victims of the so-called “Havana Syndrome,” including headaches, vertigo, visual distortions, unsteady gait, head pressure, etc., have a form of CTE, chronic traumatic ecephalopathy or brain damage. U.S. intel officials suspect Russian actors with microwave attacks because rumors from Russian scientists suggest that they’re developing advanced microwave weapons. While not confirmed yet, the Biden administration thinks Russia is to blame for microwave attacks on U.S. diplomatic personnel. Things got so bad in 2016 to 2018 at the U.S. embassy in Havana, the State Department had to essentially shut it down to a skeleton crew. Burns has no definitive proof on so-called microwave weapons attacks, something denied by Moscow and China. Some U.S. scientists including David Relman, Linda Burhbaum, Ronald Brookmeyer, Caroline Buckee, Joseph Finns, et al., reach no conclusions.
Speculation over growing numbers of Havana Syndrome cases since 2016 lead the CIA and FBI to finger Russia as the most likely culprit in perpetrating microwave attacks on U.S. diplomatic personnel. “Overall, directed pulsed RF energy . . . appears to be the most plausible mechanism in explaining these cases among those that the committee considered,” said a Dec. 2020 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. That same report said nothing in the report can be considered conclusive or definitive about the presumed causes of brain injuries sustained from the Havana Syndrome. Warning Russian intelligence of “consequences” if the U.S. determines that the FSB or SVR is behind the so-called attacks on U.S. embassy personnel sends U.S.-Russian relations right the bottom. Whatever research the CIA, FBI or State Department performs, it shouldn’t go public.
Burns opened up a diplomatic can of worms essentially accusing the Kremlin of microwave-type attacks on U.S. diplomatic personnel. No one in the scientific community can say with any certainty the cause the Havana Syndrome. What’s known for sure is that diplomatic embassy personnel report ringing in the ears, headaches, dizziness, memory impairments and other neurological symptoms from proximity to U.S. embassies around the globe. Medical experts and scientists studying some 40 U.S. diplomatic personnel indicate that there’s no precedent to their neurological symptom in U.S. history. Before CIA Director Burns heaps blame on Russia, he’s be well-advised to stop speculating in public, now catching the attention of the Russian Foreign Service. U.S. officials should finish their research quietly without naming names, leaving conclusions for another day.
