Havana Syndrome: Embassy Intrigue
by Bernd Eberhart und Kerstin Kohlenberg, Zeit Magazine, Jun 27-30, 2022
Translated by Charles Hawley
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It began in Havana in 2016, when American spies and diplomats started experiencing mysterious symptoms, including dizziness and memory loss. Now, almost 200 of them suffer from the malady with some unable to work. What is behind the most baffling series of attacks since the Cold War?
(Photo): The symptoms appeared after the victims had heard a strange noise. © Yannis Konstantinos
It was a sunny day in October 2016 when Robyn Garfield arrived in Shanghai with his family. A 31-year-old from the United States, Garfield was fluent in Chinese. He met his German wife 12 years earlier while they were both studying in Beijing. And he was excited to discover Shanghai. He would be responsible for economic ties between China and Washington at the U.S. Consulate. Together with their two young children, the couple moved into a breathtaking apartment on the 11th floor of the World Financial Center looking out on the iconic, golden façade of the Shanghai Exhibition Center, a temple – complete with fountains and colonnades – that was built to celebrate the friendship between Russia and China. In hindsight, Garfield says, though, the red star at the very top of the tower should have seemed like a bad omen.
He is telling his story while sitting in the peaceful courtyard of a building in an Eastern European city. Ivy clings to the walls and only the cooing of pigeons can be heard. He chose this spot himself, as a place where he feels safe, far away from his new posting at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. He asked that we not specify the location of the site. Indeed, it took three years before he finally agreed to speak with us. He took more precise notes about what happened to him in Shanghai than almost any other of the more than 200 American spies and diplomats who had similar experiences. But he also still works for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Next to him on this evening is a black backpack full of patient records and other documents that provide insight into the last four years of his life. They include information about the brain damage that Garfield and the others have sustained. As a consequence, they suffer from difficulties with their balance, concentration and memory. Garfield says that it takes immense effort just to do his job in Brussels. He's can no longer take in the necessary information as fast as he has to. Some of his colleagues have had to abandon their careers altogether. The documents in the backpack provide some insight into the most mysterious wave of attacks launched against American diplomats and spies since the Cold War. Potentially committed using a largely unknown method by a hostile state, as plenty of evidence seems to suggest. But the documents in the backpack reveal something else as well. They show the complete helplessness with which the U.S. government has thus far responded to the phenomenon.
The first cases of so-called "Havana Syndrome" appeared in Cuba in 2016. A short time later, American diplomats in Russia and China were affected in a similar way. Since then, the list of victims has come to include four White House staffers and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. In summer 2021, it struck American diplomats in Berlin.
(Photo): The symptoms appeared after the victims had heard a strange noise. © Yannis Konstantinos
It was a sunny day in October 2016 when Robyn Garfield arrived in Shanghai with his family. A 31-year-old from the United States, Garfield was fluent in Chinese. He met his German wife 12 years earlier while they were both studying in Beijing. And he was excited to discover Shanghai. He would be responsible for economic ties between China and Washington at the U.S. Consulate. Together with their two young children, the couple moved into a breathtaking apartment on the 11th floor of the World Financial Center looking out on the iconic, golden façade of the Shanghai Exhibition Center, a temple – complete with fountains and colonnades – that was built to celebrate the friendship between Russia and China. In hindsight, Garfield says, though, the red star at the very top of the tower should have seemed like a bad omen.
He is telling his story while sitting in the peaceful courtyard of a building in an Eastern European city. Ivy clings to the walls and only the cooing of pigeons can be heard. He chose this spot himself, as a place where he feels safe, far away from his new posting at the U.S. Embassy in Brussels. He asked that we not specify the location of the site. Indeed, it took three years before he finally agreed to speak with us. He took more precise notes about what happened to him in Shanghai than almost any other of the more than 200 American spies and diplomats who had similar experiences. But he also still works for the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Next to him on this evening is a black backpack full of patient records and other documents that provide insight into the last four years of his life. They include information about the brain damage that Garfield and the others have sustained. As a consequence, they suffer from difficulties with their balance, concentration and memory. Garfield says that it takes immense effort just to do his job in Brussels. He's can no longer take in the necessary information as fast as he has to. Some of his colleagues have had to abandon their careers altogether. The documents in the backpack provide some insight into the most mysterious wave of attacks launched against American diplomats and spies since the Cold War. Potentially committed using a largely unknown method by a hostile state, as plenty of evidence seems to suggest. But the documents in the backpack reveal something else as well. They show the complete helplessness with which the U.S. government has thus far responded to the phenomenon.
The first cases of so-called "Havana Syndrome" appeared in Cuba in 2016. A short time later, American diplomats in Russia and China were affected in a similar way. Since then, the list of victims has come to include four White House staffers and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Vienna. In summer 2021, it struck American diplomats in Berlin.
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