Havana Syndrome: A Threat to National Security

(Hardback)

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Havana Syndrome is most likely caused by unknown types of directed energy weapons, either of the acoustic or electromagnetic variety. The technology for such weapons has been under development since at least the 1960s. The first covert attacks on U.S. diplomats may go back to that time when the phenomenon was called the Moscow Signal. Havana Syndrome: A Threat to National Security covers the history of anti-personnel directed-energy weapons (DEW) from the Soviet psychotronic weapons that were rumored to exist since the 1970s to the nonlethal weapons developed in the West in the 1980s onward. The book examines the publicly known details of Havana Syndrome and provides some analysis of the U.S. government investigations into Havana Syndrome with respect to what has been declassified. The most likely perpetrators are the Russian or Chinese governments, as some incidents seem to be related to their strategic interests, and as both would have the technology to carry out such sophisticated attacks. Havana Syndrome establishes a connection between the Anomalous Health Incidents and what NATO analysts have termed cognitive warfare to speculate about the true purpose of these mysterious attacks.

Reviews

Warfare has long been defined by nations who could design, develop, and field the most exquisite and most destructive forces either through deterrence or brute force. However, the paradigm shifts that have occurred in recent decades including Cyber, Space, and now most prominently, the Cognitive domain, offer to challenge this long-held status quo. The Havana Syndrome is a defining work for all security and intelligence professionals. Dr. Krishnan's research into the paradigm shift of conflict is an essential study for students and a must-read for planners and practitioners. -- Carter Matherly * Security and Intelligence, USA *
One of the nation's pioneering scholars of neurowarfare, Armin Krishnan delivers a much-needed deep investigation of the Havana Syndrome, the rash of concussion-like injuries suffered by President Obama's last diplomats in Cuba. The symptoms among the embassy team erupted, without warning, not long after normalization of relations with the United States and shortly before collapse of American diplomacy with Havana's realignment toward Russia. In the fast-paced style of a detective thriller, Krishnan supplies the circumstantial evidence, the scientific explanation, and the broader national security implications of technologically feasible directed energy weapons in the hands of America's adversaries. -- Damon Coletta * Eisenhower Center for Space and Defense Studies, USA *

Author Bio

Armin Krishnan is associate professor of security studies at East Carolina University, USA