This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”
This report is the results of a joint investigation by 60 Minutes, The Insider, and Der Spiegel
A lead U.S. army investigator analyzing experiences of what has develop into generally known as Havana Syndrome advised 60 Minutes he believes U.S. officers are being attacked by Russia and that the official threshold to show it was set impossibly excessive.
Greg Edgreen, a now-retired Military lieutenant colonel who ran the Pentagon investigation into what officers consult with as “anomalous well being incidents,” stated the bar for proof was set so excessive as a result of the nation does not wish to face some very exhausting truths, just like the existence of attainable failures to guard Individuals.
“Sadly I am unable to get into specifics, primarily based on the classification,” Edgreen stated. “However I can let you know at a really early stage, I began to give attention to Moscow.”
A 2023 authorities report deemed it “impossible” {that a} overseas adversary was behind the mysterious mind accidents suffered by U.S. nationwide safety officers, but greater than 100 Individuals have signs scientists say could possibly be brought on by a beam of microwaves or acoustic ultrasound. Victims are annoyed that the federal government publicly doubts an adversary is concentrating on Individuals. The continuing, five-year 60 Minutes investigation has now uncovered new proof pointing towards Russia.
Are we being attacked?
White Home employees, CIA officers, FBI brokers, and army officers and their households are amongst those that imagine they had been wounded by a secret weapon firing a high-energy beam of microwaves or ultrasound.Â
Edgreen stated the officers focused had been high performers.Â
“And constantly there was a Russia nexus,” he stated. “There was some angle the place that they had labored towards Russia, centered on Russia, and accomplished extraordinarily properly.”
Final yr, President Biden attended the NATO summit in Lithuania after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. A number of sources advised 60 Minutes {that a} high-level Division of Protection official was struck through the summit. Edgreen shared what the reported incident meant to him.
“It tells me that there are not any obstacles on what Moscow will do, on who they’ll assault, and that if we do not face this head on, the issue goes to worsen,” Edgreen stated.
60 Minutes has agreed to withhold the final title of “Carrie,” a Havana Syndrome sufferer who remains to be an FBI agent working in counterintelligence. Her case additionally factors to Russia.Â
She stated she was residence in Florida in 2021 when she was hit by a crippling power.
“And bam, inside my proper ear, it was like a dentist drilling on steroids. That feeling when it will get too near your eardrum? It is like that, instances 10,” she stated.
On the identical time, she stated, the battery in her telephone started to swell till it broke the case. Lastly, she handed out on a sofa. Due to chest ache, she was checked by a heart specialist, after which returned to obligation. For months, she complained to her colleagues of reminiscence points and issues multitasking.
“My baseline modified,” she stated. “I used to be not the identical individual.”
She spoke with the FBI’s permission however wasn’t allowed to speak concerning the investigations she was engaged on when she was hit. 60 Minutes realized from different sources, one in every of them concerned Russian Vitalii Kovalev, who was caught rushing in a Ford Mustang close to Key West, Florida in 2020. After a high-speed automotive chase, a search of the automotive discovered notes associated to financial institution accounts together with a tool able to erasing the automotive’s computerized knowledge, together with its GPS data. There was additionally a Russian passport discovered.
The investigation into Kovalev
What 60 Minutes has realized together with investigative accomplice Christo Grozev, a journalist for The Insider, an investigative journal by Russian exiles, means that Kovalev was a Russian spy.
Kovalev studied in a army institute, studying about radio electronics, stated Grozev, who’s famend for his expertise unmasking Russian plots. After two years working in a army institute, Kovalev all of the sudden grew to become a chef in New York and Washington.
“It’s not a straightforward job to simply depart that behind. When you’re within the army, and you have been educated, and the Ministry of Protection has invested in you, you stay at their beck and name for the remainder of your life,” Grozev stated.Â
It is not clear what Kovalev may need been as much as, however sources advised 60 Minutes that, over months, he spent 80 hours being interviewed by “Carrie,” who sources stated had investigated a number of Russian spies for the FBI.
Kovalev acquired 30 months in jail and, after serving his time, went again to Russia in 2022, ignoring American warnings he was at risk as a result of he’d spent a lot time with the FBI. Grozev uncovered a demise certificates from final yr, which says Kovalev was killed on the entrance in Ukraine.Â
“One concept is that he was despatched there to ensure that him to be disposed of,” Grozev stated.
Mark Zaid, “Carrie’s” lawyer who holds a safety clearance, has greater than two dozen shoppers struggling signs of Havana Syndrome. He stated victims embrace members of the CIA, State Division and FBI.
“The one thread that I do know of with the FBI personnel that’s frequent amongst most, if not all, of my shoppers aside from the members of the family linked to the worker, was they had been all doing one thing referring to Russia,” Zaid stated.
Russian intelligence unit 29155
Whether it is Russia, Grozev believes Russian intelligence unit 29155 is concerned. Grozev has an extended observe document of uncovering Russian paperwork and divulges he discovered one which will hyperlink the 29155 unit to a directed vitality weapon.
It is a piece of accounting. A 29155 officer acquired a bonus for work on “potential capabilities of non-lethal acoustic weapons…”
“It is the closest to a receipt you possibly can have for this,” Grozev stated.
There’s additionally proof 29155 could have been current in Tbilisi, Georgia when Individuals reported incidents there. Grozev believes members of 29155 had been there to facilitate, supervise, or presumably personally implement assaults on American officers utilizing an acoustic weapon.
Sources have advised 60 Minutes that an investigation centered on Russian Albert Averyanov, whose title seems on journey manifests and telephone data alongside identified members of 29155. He is additionally the son of the unit’s commander.Â
Incidents started in Tbilisi the day after a telephone name, which was intercepted. Sources stated a person on the decision requested in Russian: “Is it imagined to have blinking inexperienced lights?” and “ought to I depart it on all night time?”
The following day, a U.S. official, their partner, and their little one had been hit. That very same week, the spouse of a Justice Division official, who requested “60 Minutes” to withhold her title over security issues, was blindsided by a sound in her laundry room in Tbilisi on Oct. 7, 2021.
“And it simply pierced my ears, got here in my left facet, felt prefer it got here via the window, into my left ear,” she stated.Â
She had a piercing headache and projectile vomited.Â
Afterward, she regarded on the safety digital camera and noticed a car exterior she did not acknowledge. There was additionally a person close by. 60 Minutes despatched a photograph of Averyanov to the girl, who stated it “completely” seems like the person she noticed exterior.Â
“And once I acquired this photograph, I had a visceral response,” she stated. “It made me really feel sick. I can not completely say for certainty that it’s this man, however I can let you know that even to at the present time, taking a look at him makes me really feel that very same visceral response. And I can completely say that this seems like the person that I noticed on the street.”
Grozev discovered Averyanov’s telephone was turned off through the Tbilisi incidents, and sources say there’s proof somebody in Tbilisi logged into Averyanov’s private electronic mail throughout this time. Grozev believes this was more than likely Averyanov himself—inserting him within the metropolis.
Has there been a cover-up?
Regardless of incidents like those in Tbilisi, the official U.S. intelligence evaluation launched final yr discovered that it was “impossible” a overseas adversary is accountable. The report did acknowledge that some intelligence companies have solely “low” or “average” confidence in that conclusion.Â
This month, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being reported outcomes of mind scans on sufferers with signs. NIH stated there is no proof of bodily harm. The medical science of so-called anomalous well being incidents stays vigorously debated. For its half, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence says the accidents suffered by victims are in all probability the results of “preexisting circumstances, typical sicknesses and environmental elements.”
However Zaid, who’s representing greater than two dozen anomalous well being incident shoppers, stated he does not imagine the complete story is within the U.S. intelligence evaluation. Zaid stated he is aware of of categorized data that undermines or contradicts what’s been stated publicly.Â
“There’s, in my opinion, no doubt, proof of a canopy up. Now, a few of that cowl up is just not essentially that, ‘oh, we discovered a weapon,'” Zaid stated. “What I’ve seen extra so is, ‘we see traces of inquiry that might take us doubtlessly to solutions we do not wish to need to cope with, so we’re not going to discover any of these avenues.'”
As with all spy tales, a lot is assessed and what stays is circumstantial. Not one of the witnesses 60 Minutes spoke with needed to return ahead, however all of them felt compelled to shine a light-weight on what they see as a conflict of shadows — a conflict America will not be profitable.
“If that is what we have seen with the tons of of instances of anomalous well being incidents, I can guarantee that this has develop into in all probability Putin’s greatest victory,” Grozev stated. “In his personal thoughts this has been Russia’s greatest victory towards the West.”
Statements from the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence, the White Home, and the FBI
In response to inquiries from 60 Minutes, the Workplace of the Director of Nationwide Intelligence referred to the Intelligence Neighborhood’s Annual Risk Evaluation commentary on anomalous well being incidents. The evaluation was launched earlier this month and states:
“We proceed to carefully study anomalous well being incidents (AHIs), notably in areas we now have recognized as requiring further analysis and evaluation. Most IC companies have concluded that it is extremely unlikely a overseas adversary is chargeable for the reported AHIs. IC companies have various confidence ranges as a result of we nonetheless have gaps given the challenges amassing on overseas adversaries—as we do on many points involving them. As a part of its overview, the IC recognized essential assumptions surrounding the preliminary AHIs reported in Cuba from 2016 to 2018, which framed the IC’s understanding of this phenomenon, however weren’t borne out by subsequent medical and technical evaluation. In gentle of this and the proof that factors away from a overseas adversary, causal mechanism, or distinctive syndromes linked to AHIs, IC companies assess these signs reported by U.S. personnel in all probability had been the results of elements that didn’t contain a overseas adversary. These findings don’t name into query the very actual experiences and signs that our colleagues and their members of the family have reported. We proceed to prioritize our work on such incidents, allocating assets and experience throughout the federal government, pursuing a number of traces of inquiry and searching for data to fill the gaps we now have recognized.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, a White Home spokesperson responded:
 “In the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration and once more following the 2023 Intelligence Neighborhood evaluation, the White Home has directed departments and companies throughout the federal authorities to prioritize investigations into the reason for AHIs and to look at experiences totally; to make sure that U.S. Authorities personnel and their households who report AHIs obtain the assist and well timed entry to medical care that they want; and to take experiences of AHIs critically and deal with personnel with respect and compassion. The Biden-Harris administration continues to emphasise the significance of prioritizing efforts to comprehensively study the results and potential causes of AHIs.”
In response to questions from 60 Minutes, an FBI spokesperson responded:
“The problem of Anomalous Well being Incidents is a high precedence for the FBI, because the safety, well being and well-being of our staff and colleagues throughout the federal authorities is paramount. We are going to proceed to work alongside our companions within the intelligence group as a part of the interagency effort to find out how we are able to greatest shield our personnel. The FBI takes all U.S. authorities personnel who report signs critically. In line with this apply, the FBI has messaged its workforce on the best way to reply in the event that they expertise an AHI, the best way to report an incident, and the place they will obtain medical evaluations for signs or persistent results.”