U.S. military forces already possess a weapon capable of triggering what is known as «Havana syndrome,» according to journalist Sasha Ingber, a former employee of the U. S. State Department and NPR. She outlined her conclusions in a post published on the Substack platform.

Ingber reported that the U.S. government has a device believed to cause Havana syndrome and that the weapon came into American hands several months ago during a special operations mission, when it was seized by U.S. special forces.

She explained that her investigation began after an interview circulated on social media featuring a man who identified himself as a member of the security detail of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. In that interview, the individual claimed that during an attempted seizure of Maduro, his bodyguards were incapacitated by an unknown weapon.

Ingber’s sources declined to specify where exactly the United States obtained the device but confirmed that it had already undergone testing. According to the former State Department official, the weapon is currently in the possession of the Pentagon. One source also suggested that the device may have been purchased rather than captured during an operation.

Symptoms associated with Havana syndrome-including dizziness, nausea, headaches, and hearing impairment-were first recorded among U.S. diplomats in Cuba in 2016–2017, and later in China in 2018. Subsequent media reports described similar cases involving American diplomats, intelligence officers, and other government personnel in Vienna, several African countries, Tajikistan, and Russia. CIA Director William Burns has stated that several hundred people have been affected overall.

In March 2023, the U.S. intelligence community released a report concluding that Havana syndrome was not caused by actions of any foreign adversary. Despite this assessment, the U. S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence called for continued data collection on «new technologies of foreign states,» including developments related to directed energy weapons.