Updated May 18th, 2021 at 15:12 IST

US investigates second case of mysterious 'Havana Syndrome' near White House

Second case of mystery ‘syndrome’ occurred shortly a day after presidential election, one more official was injured near White House grounds entrance, US said.

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
IMAGE: AP | Image:self
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Feds are now investigating a second case of the energy-directed attack in the likeness of strange 'Havana Syndrome' that caused bizarre radio frequency brain injuries among the embassy diplomats in Cuba, US troops stationed abroad, and CIA operatives. At least two officials on the National Security Council were attacked on the south side of the White House, reporting absurd sensory experiences and illness symptoms, as it remains for the US Intelligence Community to determine who has been behind these "mystery energy attacks".

Multiple sources told CNN, that the second instance of the mystery ‘syndrome’ had occurred shortly a day after the presidential election, and that one more official was injured near the entrance of White House grounds several weeks apart. Unidentified on purpose, the second US government official had reported a more intense array of nervous system complications than the previous cases of the illness reported in April.

“I awoke in the middle of the night. It was an incredible case of vertigo. The room was spinning. I had terrible headaches. I felt like I was going to be nauseous. It started a long medical journey of a headache that never goes away,” Former Senior CIA Intelligence Officer Marc Polymeropoulos explained his experience in a statement released after he took a trip to Moscow. 

Last month, the US Senate Intelligence Committee leaders had vowed to get to the bottom of strange illness-causing energy-directed attacks, adding that the Biden administration had been briefed about the reoccurring incidents. “For nearly five years, we have been aware of reports of mysterious attacks on United States Government personnel in Havana, Cuba and around the world," Sens. Mark Warner (D-Va.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said in a joint statement, last month. "This pattern of attacking our fellow citizens serving our government appears to be increasing. The Senate Intelligence Committee intends to get to the bottom of this," the statement continued.

"At this point, at this moment, we don't know the cause of these incidents, which are both limited in nature and the vast majority of which have been reported overseas," White House press secretary Jen Psaki, had told a presser as she acknowledged the newly reported cases in the US for the first time. 

Federal agencies, probing the incidences have long suspected Russia’s top foreign intelligence agency behind the attacks. US suspected Moscow’s Main Intelligence Directorate ‘Glavnoye Razvedyvatelnoye Upravlenie’ [GRU]  behind these mysterious attacks, but "did not yet have a smoking gun to prove it," at least three former and current military officials had told Politico last month. National Security Council investigating the regions of attacks have dubbed the syndrome investigation as the ‘active inquiry'. The earlier case involved an NSC official walking a dog in Alexandria, Va, who was targeted in the year 2019. Another White House official reported similar illness symptoms while walking her dog in a Virginia suburb outside Washington DC. 

Energy-directed attacks 'more widespread'

The US White House had earlier revealed that the mysterious invisible attacks of Havana Syndrome had affected as many as 130 personnel and that the cases are more widespread than previously thought of. The illness caused 'mysterious injuries' in CIA officials, US State Department envoys, and the soldiers of the Defense Department overseas. The initial cases were numbered at about 60, but recent investigations by the Biden administration have found that more than two dozens of military personnel and spies were victims of unexplainable energy attacks with a "vast majority" of cases occurring among officials stationed in countries abroad.

“Numbers are increasing,” a DC attorney probing the troops afflicted with Havana syndrome said in a televised broadcast. Democratic Senator Mark Warner and Republican Marco Rubio of the Senate Intelligence Committee issued an official statement, saying that a detailed review is being conducted, warning that the pattern of energy-directed attacks has been rising. 

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Published May 18th, 2021 at 15:12 IST