“Being an American spy or diplomat posted abroad during an era when aggressively resurgent rival powers are rewriting the rules of international politics and diplomacy requires entering into a new matrix of uncertainty. Meanwhile, people are suffering and they’ve so far received about as much compensation as explanation. While the former may soon change, we can expect the latter to remain the same until science – and some stellar detective work – shines a light where currently there is none.”
Jonathan Terra — Political scientist and former diplomat (November 2021)
December 1 2021 — According to recent reports, spies flock to Brussels like bees to a honeypot. This raises an obvious question. Why are there no reported cases of Havana Syndrome in Brussels? Follow us on Twitter: @INTEL_TODAY
RELATED POST: On This Day — And thus a new syndrome was born… [Havana Syndrome – October 3 2017]
Gregory (Scotland Yard detective): “Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?”
Holmes: “To the curious incident of the dog in the night-time.”
Gregory: “The dog did nothing in the night-time.”
Holmes: “That was the curious incident.”
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle — Silver Blaze
UPDATE (December 1 2022) — When you analyse a complex issue, you must include all the facts, including the “negative facts”!
“Silver Blaze” is a marvelous mystery about the disappearance of a famous racehorse the night before a race and the murder of the horse’s trainer.
Sherlock Homes solves the mystery in part by recognizing that no one he spoke to in his investigation remarked that they had heard barking from the watchdog during the night.
The fact that the dog did not bark when you would expect it to do so while a horse was stolen led Homes to the conclusion that the evildoer was a not a stranger to the dog, but someone the dog recognized and thus would not cause him to bark.
Holmes drew a conclusion from a fact (barking) that did not occur, which can be referred to as a “negative fact.” [“The Dog that Didn’t Bark:” What We Can Learn from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle About Using the Absence of Expected Facts. — Mike Skotnicki]
Today, I will only repeat the obvious question. Why are there no reported cases of Havana Syndrome in Brussels? Think about that!
PS — The Central Intelligence Agency is bringing a “chief wellbeing officer” onboard as part of a push to increase mental health resources and provide additional support to its workforce.
RELATED POST : Poetry — The Haiku Master, the Cicadas and the CIA
The CIA just announced Jennifer Posa as the agency’s first-ever chief wellbeing officer. Posa started at the agency last month. She was most recently the Global Head of Employee Mental Wellbeing and Workplace Effectiveness for Johnson & Johnson. She also spent 17 years at the Mayo Clinic. [CIA hires first ever chief wellbeing officer]
END of UPDATE
“Belgium is a den of spies. The number of operatives is at least as high as during the Cold War, and Brussels is their chessboard.”
How Belgium Became Europe’s Den of Spies and a Gateway for China
Bloomberg (November 28 2019)
In a recent post [Havana Syndrome — CIA director warns Russian spies of consequences! Seriously?], I raised a couple of questions.
“What is really going on inside the CIA ‘Havana Syndrome’ Task Force? Are they even trying to solve this case?”
As I have explained previously, the behavior of the CIA has been very suspicious since the beginning of this mystery. Of course, there could be a good reason for that.
There is something else that bothers me… Let me first remind you two simple facts…
Fact #1 — When I coined the expression “Havana Syndrome” [US Spies & the Havana Syndrome — INTEL TODAY (October 3 2017)] I suggested that microwave spying may be the cause of the reported events.
Today, although there is still no evidence, microwave spying has become the leading hypothesis.
Indeed, microwave spying is a well established tool of espionage. And yes, the U. S. agencies (CIA and NSA) use this technique to collect intelligence. They have done so for the last 50 years!
RELATED POST: Microwave Spying — Leon Theremin & “The Thing” [UPDATE : CIA Microwave Cavities on display at the Crypto Museum]
RELATED POST: Havana Syndrome — What Are the Frequencies Used by US Intel for Microwave Spying? [2019]
RELATED POST: Havana Syndrome — US Scientist Criticizes ICNIRP Refusal to Reassess Cell Phone Radiation Exposure Guidelines
Fact #2 — In recent years, Brussels has overtaken Vienna when it comes to the density of so-called intelligence services from outside the EU. [Peter Gridling — Head of Austria’s domestic intelligence agency (June 2018)]
The capital of Europe offers a lots of targets and there is very little to fear.
“With 127 diplomatic postings, Brussels hosts the most diplomatic missions in the world, according to the Global Diplomacy Index of the Lowy Institute. The presence of the EU institutions and NATO headquarters makes Belgium relevant not just for diplomats, journalists and lobbyists, but also for international espionage.
But despite the high levels of interest in the Belgian capital, both Belgian and EU authorities say it is difficult for them to punish those caught spying and attempts to tighten the rules have failed.” [According to POLITICO, spies flock to Brussels like bees to a honeypot. — Belgium’s spy problem]
Question — Therefore, we must ask the obvious question: Why are there no reported cases of Havana Syndrome in Brussels?
Of course, I do not know the answer, but I will venture two plausible explanations at the extremes of the spectrum.
On one hand, it is perhaps true that no cases of Havana Syndrome have occurred in Brussels. If true, it becomes very difficult to believe that someone has this capacity but is not using it in the perfect environment.
On the other hand… It is also perfectly plausible that the U.S. Intelligence Community has decided not to reveal that cases have actually occurred in Brussels because they have concluded that this is where they have the best chances to solve the investigation.
By the way… The mystery of the Havana Syndrome has received worldwide coverage by Main Stream Media. As you may expect, this story is a very hot subject among diplomats. And yet, despite Belgium hosting the most diplomatic missions in the world, not a single Belgian newspaper has written a word about this story?!? Is it not suspicious?
PS — I began to investigate microwave espionage activities in Brussels during the early months of 2014, more than two years before the first “Havana Syndrome” cases were reported in Cuba. I immediately recommended a 24/7 monitoring of the microwave spectrum. The project was funded but cancelled, without explanations, just when it was about to begin. Last month, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the State Department has deployed microwave monitoring devices to U.S. missions around the world. Seven critical years have been lost. Some folks in the Brussels government have some questions to answer…
“Do I believe in conspiracies? Certainly. I believe, for example, that someone is targeting C.I.A. agents and White House officials with microwave radiation, the so-called Havana syndrome, and your government denied it.”
Chris Carter [X-Files] — New York Times (June 25 2021)
REFERENCES
HAVANA SYNDROME: THE PERFECT DISEASE FOR A POST-TRUTH WORLD — Jonathan Terra
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Brussels, Den of Spies — Why are there no reported cases of Havana Syndrome in Brussels?
One Year Ago — Brussels, Den of Spies — Why are there no reported cases of Havana Syndrome in Brussels? [Update : Learning From What You Don’t Observe]
Intel Today 