On the menu today: The U.S. may well have solved the mystery of “Havana Syndrome,” and the news aligns with a strange and fascinating account of the U.S. raid that captured Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro. You’re going to want to read this one, all the way to the end.

Set Phasers for Stun, Mr. Hegseth!

We’re two weeks into January, but this may be the single most fascinating news story of the year.

The first angle of this CNN scoop that deserved to break through the noise of the news cycle is that the U.S. government appears to have gotten its hands on one of the devices that triggers “Havana Syndrome”:

The Defense Department has spent more than a year testing a device purchased in an undercover operation that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of mysterious ailments impacting US spies, diplomats and troops that are colloquially known as Havana Syndrome, according to four sources briefed on the matter.

A division of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, purchased the device for millions of dollars in the waning days of the Biden administration, using funding provided by the Defense Department, according to two of the sources. Officials paid “eight figures” for the device, these people said, declining to offer a more specific number.

The device is still being studied and there is ongoing debate — and in some quarters of government, skepticism — over its link to the roughly dozens of anomalous health incidents that remain officially unexplained.

The U.S. government bought this device? Man, you can find anything on Ebay.

The bad news is that the communists were right, the capitalists will sell them the rope that the communists intend to use to hang them. The good news is that the communists are so corrupt, they’ll sell their secret advanced version of the rope right back to the capitalists to get some cash.

From that CNN report:

The device acquired by HSI produces pulsed radio waves, one of the sources said, which some officials and academics have speculated for years could be the cause of the incidents. Although the device is not entirely Russian in origin, it contains Russian components, this person added.

Russian components? This is my surprised face.

Back in January 2022, the CIA appeared to rule out the possibility of a hostile foreign power causing these attacks:

The Central Intelligence Agency has determined that a foreign country is probably not mounting a global attack aimed at U.S. personnel who have reported painful and sometimes debilitating physical symptoms, a significant finding that could undermine some officials’ suspicion that Russia is to blame for a years-long series of mysterious illnesses.

A senior CIA official stressed that the agency’s investigation continues. But the interim finding drew swift criticism from people who say they were victimized and accused the agency of trying to prematurely close the case. Some officials and lawmakers urged patience while the investigation continues and seemed to distance themselves from the CIA’s conclusions.

“We assess it is unlikely that a foreign actor, including Russia, is conducting a sustained, worldwide campaign harming U.S. personnel with a weapon or mechanism,” said a senior CIA official, speaking on the condition of anonymity under ground rules set by the agency.

The CIA has a long history with plenty of successes and unfortunately, far too many consequential failures. Failing to recognize a hostile power’s attack on Americans, including its own personnel, and issuing a report that concluded otherwise would rank high on that list of failures.

Among the figures who doubted that CIA assessment was then-Senator Marco Rubio: “When you read about the devastating injuries, it’s hard to accept it was caused by [air conditioning] units & loud cicadas. Something happened here, and just because we don’t have all the answers, doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

Then in 2024, 60 Minutes, the Insider (a Russia-focused news website), and Der Spiegel reported on new evidence supporting the thesis that a hit squad from Russia’s GRU intelligence service has carried out these attacks using weapons that direct special microwaves at their targets. 60 Minutes interviewed Greg Edgreen, who ran the investigation for the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency. From the transcript:

We were collecting a large body of data, ranging from signals intelligence, human intelligence, open source reporting, anything regarding the internet, travel records, financial records, you name it. Unfortunately, I can’t get into specifics based on the classification, but I can tell you at a very early stage, I started to focus on Moscow.

One of the things I started to notice was the caliber of our officer that was being impacted. This wasn’t happening to our worst or our middle-range officers. This was happening to our top five, ten percent of performing officers across the Defense Intelligence Agency, and consistently, there was a Russia nexus. There was some angle where they had worked against Russia, focused on Russia, and done extremely well.

Look, I’m not an analytical genius, but if every American intelligence officer overseas who pulls off a great operation against Russia suddenly gets hit with intense headaches and other ailments a few months later, I’d start to look suspiciously at the Russians, ya know? It’s not like Moscow’s intelligence agencies are too noble or moral to ever attempt such a thing.

Note that individuals located in Miami, Alexandria, Virginia, and near the White House reported symptoms of “Havana Syndrome,” suggesting agents of a hostile foreign state were conducting these attacks on U.S. soil.

On April 1, 2024, then-Senator JD Vance posted on X: “Feels like a lot of journalists have lost their minds. ‘Have you guys heard that Putler, working with Drumpf and the saucer people, has started attacking with invisible lasers?’”

Great call, Mr. Vice President. Way to bring your grown-up approach to a threat to Americans.

So, sometime in “the waning days of the Biden administration,” the U.S. gets its hands on what we’ll call a “Havana Syndrome device” that uses pulsed radio waves to inflict nonlethal injuries upon its targets, and the U.S. Department of Defense starts studying it.

Perhaps the Pentagon scientists even attempted to reverse-engineer it, or figure out how to develop another version of it. Call it a “Caracas Syndrome device.” (The Pentagon has been researching and attempting to develop a variety of non-lethal weapons for many, many years.)

There’s a reason I’m speculating along these lines. On January 10, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt urged her followers on X to “stop what you are doing and read this,” sharing an account from Mike Netter, the vice chair of the effort to recall California Governor Gavin Newsom. Netter transcribed an interview with a figure who was, allegedly, a surviving member of Maduro’s security team:

Security Guard: On the day of the operation, we didn’t hear anything coming. We were on guard, but suddenly all our radar systems shut down without any explanation. The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions. We didn’t know how to react.

Interviewer: So, what happened next? How was the main attack?

Security Guard: After those drones appeared, some helicopters arrived, but there were very few. I think barely eight helicopters. From those helicopters, soldiers came down, but a very small number. Maybe twenty men. But those men were technologically very advanced. They didn’t look like anything we’ve fought against before.

Interviewer: And then the battle began?

Security Guard: Yes, but it was a massacre. We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed . . . it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn’t do anything.

Interviewer: And your own weapons? Didn’t they help?

Security Guard: No help at all. Because it wasn’t just the weapons. At one point, they launched something — I don’t know how to describe it . . . it was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move.

Interviewer: And your comrades? Did they manage to resist?

Security Guard: No, not at all. Those twenty men, without a single casualty, killed hundreds of us. We had no way to compete with their technology, with their weapons. I swear, I’ve never seen anything like it. We couldn’t even stand up after that sonic weapon or whatever it was.

Interviewer: So, do you think the rest of the region should think twice before confronting the Americans?

Security Guard: Without a doubt. I’m sending a warning to anyone who thinks they can fight the United States. They have no idea what they’re capable of. After what I saw, I never want to be on the other side of that again. They’re not to be messed with.

If that account is true, it explains why the military uniforms of U.S. adversaries often include brown pants.

Joseph Trevithick, an associate editor of The War Zone, found out where the interview originated: “The sonic weapon claim looks to originate with a video posted on TikTok on January 9 by an individual who goes by Varela News (and who uses the handle @franklinvarela09). The Spanish-language clip is a purported interview with a member of the Venezuelan security forces who was involved in the response to the U.S. operation in Caracas just over a week ago.”

That TikTok account has, as of this morning, more than 56,000 followers. Strangely, he lists his location as “Utah.”

Trevithick wrote:

“To protect operations security, we don’t have any information to provide beyond the Chairman’s [Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff U.S. Air Force Gen. Dan “Razin” Caine] remarks at the Jan. 3 briefing,” a Pentagon spokesperson told us in response to further queries about the purported “sonic weapon.”

Look, either the existence of a new U.S. sonic weapon is classified, and an account of its use shouldn’t be shared by the White House press secretary, or it isn’t classified and is the sort of thing that Leavitt can publicly discuss. I am an old fuddy-duddy and would prefer if the White House press secretary would just share information that is true and verified. Then again, I’m old enough to remember the name Marlin Fitzwater.

However, there is one detail from the security guard’s account that lines up with what we know. The security guard says, “All our radar systems shut down without any explanation.”

All available evidence suggests that the Venezuelan air defense systems were completely ineffective that night. The Pentagon said that the operation to capture Nicolás Maduro involved more than 150 aircraft, and that while at least one aircraft took some fire, it was able to continue and complete the mission. Guess who supplied those “radar systems”:

During the January 3^rd U.S. raid, Venezuela’s Chinese radar systems appear to have failed to provide effective detection of incoming U.S. aircraft, although it is not clear whether this was due to U.S. electronic jamming, lack of maintenance, and/or limitations in the integration and coordination of Venezuela’s air defense network. These systems include the JYL-1, JY-11, and possibly the JY-27A, which is touted as a long-range “anti-stealth” radar with the ability to detect fifth-generation aircraft such as U.S. F-22s and F-35s.

If you’re the defense minister of some country and you’ve bought Chinese-built anti-stealth radar systems, ask for a refund. When it comes to protecting your country, you really don’t want the Temu brand.

On January 12, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth visited SpaceX in Texas. Introducing him, Elon Musk said, “I’ll tell you a little bit just about the purpose of SpaceX. It’s like we want to make Star Trek real, okay? We want to make Starfleet Academy real, so that it’s not always science fiction, but one day the science fiction turns to science fact.”

Maybe the U.S. military already has a version of a Star Trek phaser that can stun or incapacitate, instead of killing a foe.

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