Speaker 1: Imagine this for a second. You're an American diplomat, maybe
an intelligence officer or a soldier, and your station overseas.
You're doing your job in a busy foreign city.
Speaker 2: Right You're on high alert exactly.
Speaker 1: You're scanning the crowds for threats, the usual stuff, a
surveillance team, maybe a bomb, a suspicious package.
Speaker 2: Left somewhere, all the things you're trained for.
Speaker 1: All the things you're trained for. But the attack, when
it finally comes, is it's completely invisible. It's just this sudden,
crippling wave of vertigo and then a crushing head pressure,
like your skull is being squeezed in a giant vice.
And there's a sound, a sound only you can hear,
a high pitched shriek.
Speaker 2: And after that, permanent brain damage.
Speaker 1: Permanent all of it delivered without a single blast, without
a bullet, without even a single person you can point
to as your attacker.
Speaker 2: That chilling reality. That's been the absolute core of the
Havana syndrome mystery for what nearly a decade.
Speaker 1: Now, it feels like it.
Speaker 2: Officially it's called anomalous health incidents or ahis, but this
phenomenon has plagued US personnel all over the globe, and
it challenges every single notion we have of a covert attack.
For years, the whole conversation was just trapped in the
cycle of speculation.
Speaker 1: Oh absolutely, is it mass hysteria, is it you know, crickets?
Is it environmental?
Speaker 2: Or is it a weapon? That was always the big question.
Speaker 1: Welcome to thrilling threads. Today we are pulling on the
most crucial wire yet in this entire tangled story, because
the biggest missing piece, the thing that was always missing,
was the weapon, the tangible proof, the tangible mechanism that
could actually cause a traumatic brain injury a TBI while
staying completely totally covert. And today that missing piece, it's
potentially been found.
Speaker 2: And our look into this today is based on while
a stack of incredible sources, it really synthesizes years of
investigative work, particularly by journalists at the Insider in sixty
minutes incredible work. It's just phenomenal, and it all culminates
in this recent absolutely explosive reporting from CNN. So our
mission today is really to unpack this new tangible development,
the Pentagon's acquisition of a device suspected to be the
source of these ahis.
Speaker 1: Okay, so here's the initial shock factor. This is the
nugget that really changes the entire game. The US government,
through a secret undercover operation, now has.
Speaker 3: A device, an actual device in their hands, in their hands,
a device that produces pulsed radio waves, the exact energy
signature that has been suspected for years and years.
Speaker 2: It's portable, it can fit into a backpack, which is key,
and it contains Russian components. This acquisition, which apparently costs
millions of dollars, it moves the entire discussion from abstract
theory to actual physical evidence that's sitting in a lab
being examined right now.
Speaker 1: It's a game changer, it is.
Speaker 2: So we're going to explore how this single piece of
hardware could resolve the central paradox of Havana syndrome.
Speaker 1: But before we get totally lost in the tech and
the specks of this weapon, I think we have to
ground this conversation in the human costs.
Speaker 2: Because without really understanding the gravity of the trauma these
people went through, it's just too easy to slip back
into that initial public dismissal, thinking of this as just
some strange, temporary illness.
Speaker 1: I agree completely. We need to start with the origin
story to really grasp the scale of it. So the
first wave of symptoms, it emerged nearly ten years ago now,
right around late twenty sixteen.
Speaker 2: That's right. It started with US diplomats stationed in Havana, Cuba.
They began reporting these very strange, very acute episodes.
Speaker 1: But it absolutely did not stop there, As all the
source material confirms the case is just they proliferated. They
popped up worldwide, targeting this very specific group of people, spies, diplomats, troops,
YEP in Europe, in Asia, and there were even some
cases reported domestically right here in the US.
Speaker 2: And we really have to emphasize this reported trauma. It
goes so far beyond a simple headache or just a
moment of discomfort.
Speaker 1: It's not just feeling unwelly well.
Speaker 2: Not at all. Victims report vertigo, sure and disorientation, crushing headaches, yes,
But the long term diagnosis is the critical part. They
suffer from significant neurological symptoms that are definitive signs of
sustained trauma. This is not temporary distress, This is chronic
life altering injury.
Speaker 1: That distinction right there between an acute symptom and a
chronic injury is so vital. The sources cite traumatic brain
injuries TBI. I mean, that's the kind of injury we
associate with a car crash or explosion.
Speaker 2: Sure, blunt force trauma, right, and.
Speaker 1: Yet these victims they experience none of that. The physical
ailments are genuinely, profoundly debilitating.
Speaker 2: Just look at some of the examples cited in the investigation.
We're talking about individuals who are at the absolute top
of their game, top tier intelligence officers, foreign service personnel,
who are now rendered severely incapacitated.
Speaker 1: It's tragic.
Speaker 2: The most extreme example is of one victim who is
now legally blind and requires the constant use of a
weighted vest just to manage their equilibrium.
Speaker 1: Just a function, weighted best.
Speaker 2: A weighted best just to stay up right. That single detail,
to me, should just destroy any lingering notion that this
is somehow psychological.
Speaker 1: It absolutely speaks to the severity of the damage to
the vestibular system, to this central nervous system. I mean,
when an invisible force can make someone legally blind and
require them to use constant physical aids, you are dealing
with a mechanism that has inflicted permanent quantifiable physiological damage exactly,
and that's precisely why that initial skepticism was so deeply,
deeply insulting to the victims.
Speaker 2: Who were coming forward, and that leads us right to
the voice of the victims themselves. We have the account
of Adam, who was the former CIA officer identified as patient.
Speaker 1: Zero, the first American who was officially medically evacuated from
Cuba after suffering.
Speaker 2: These symptoms, right and his experience. It gives us this
visceral understanding of the attacks sudden debilitating nature.
Speaker 1: Adam recounts his experience as stark and definitely a scary moment.
He talks about the immediate feeling of an existential threat.
Speaker 2: He was in danger.
Speaker 1: He specifically remembers texting his brother in real time as
it was happening, thinking he might not make it out
of there. Just think about that for a second. You're
in the middle of a covert operation and your last
thought might be about contacting your family because of some
invisible force that's attacking your brain.
Speaker 2: And the physical description he gives is so key to
understanding the weapons effect. He described it as extreme head pressure,
crushing your pain.
Speaker 1: Crushing your pain.
Speaker 2: But what's particularly terrifying, is how he describes it. It
wasn't instantaneous, like a bomb going off, he said, it
ratcheted up, It intensified over fifteen to twenty minutes until
he finally started blacking out.
Speaker 1: That deliberate, controlled ramping up of pressure. I mean that
suggests a weapon that is highly targeted, maybe even adjustable,
is not just some random burst of energy.
Speaker 2: No, it's controlled.
Speaker 1: And the temporary loss of consciousness, the blacking out, that's
the brain's immediate catastrophic response to an over whelming disruption.
It really highlights the physiological chaos being caused by something
that is actively short circuiting the brain's function through this
localized pressure.
Speaker 2: It feels like a deliberate process designed to incapacitate, maybe
even permanently.
Speaker 1: Which brings us back to the implications. The profound implication
of these symptoms, rendering these top operatives dysfunctional at its
worst is what finally forced the US government to accept
that they had to take action.
Speaker 2: Right it set the stage for this extraordinary undercover operation
actually find the physical mechanism. Just can't ignore a high
volume of your top personnel all suffering from documented TBI
without any visible cause.
Speaker 1: So if the symptoms are that profound and the initial
reports were largely dismissed, the only way forward was to
find the hardware, to find the proof, a piece of
hardware that could prove the victims weren't lying. And that
brings us to the centerpiece of this entire deep dive. Ye,
the acquisition itself.
Speaker 2: And the sheer magnitude of the symptoms is the sole
justification for the Lanks. The US government went to find
this weapon. I mean, this was not some routine intelligence purchase.
Speaker 1: Let's unpack the details of this because it's a truly
remarkable acquisition. The source material reveals a secret operation and
it was led jointly. You have the Pentagon focused on
military threats and the Toartment of Homeland Security.
Speaker 2: DHS DHS focusing on security vulnerabilities at home.
Speaker 1: Right, So this was a high sakes undercover operation. It
costs millions of dollars, and crucially, it was executed in
the waning days of the Biden administration.
Speaker 2: The joint nature of that operation is very telling. It
signifies that the US government sees this not just as
an attack on personnel abroad, but as a potential national
security threat that could be deployed domestically, especially with those
scattered reports of symptoms within the US. Exactly, it demanded
a cross agency, all hands on deck kind of effort.
Speaker 1: But we have to acknowledge the caveat here, which the
CNN reporting really stresses. US officials have apparently spent a
year examining this device, and they still have not definitively
concluded that it is one hundred percent linked to these
mysterious health incidents.
Speaker 2: And that's the classic intelligence hedge, right, they need definitive,
rock solid proof of function and more importantly, an undeniable
paper trail back to the adversary before they make a
public accusation.
Speaker 1: An accusation that could spark a major international crisis.
Speaker 2: Of course, however, the report's most tantalizing line is the
necessary balance to that caution. It says, there is new
evidence suggesting that it potentially was the weapon used in
the attacks. The proof is mounting, even if the public
conclusion isn't sealed yet.
Speaker 1: That tension is exactly where this whole narrative lives. But
it's the makeup of the device that has resolved years
of technological speculation. It's what's driving this huge institutional shift.
This piece of hardware provides the physical confirmation that investigators
have been desperate for.
Speaker 2: We finally reached the check that box moment. The makeup
of this acquired device, it aligns perfectly with the three
crucial characteristics operational and scientific, that investigators had theorized were
necessary for these AHI attacks to even be possible.
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's start with the operational paradox. Any hostile
act needs to be mobile, and it needs to be covert.
So let's tackle the second characteristic. First, portability. How do
you create TBI level damage with a device that's highly
mobile and doesn't need a truck or some giant fixed
antenna installation, And.
Speaker 2: The sources confirmed the device is relatively small. It can
fit into a backpack.
Speaker 1: That single detail, to me, is a geopolitical game changer.
It explains the operational success of the attacks. For years,
intelligence officials struggled with the physics of it. They thought
you'd need this massive energy source to inflict a TBI.
The fact that the Pentagon is now testing a functional
device that fits into a standard backpack suggests that the
operational requirement for covert mobile deployment has been met. This
shifts non kinetic warfare from science fiction into street level reality.
Speaker 2: Exactly. You don't need a massive fixation anymore. You can
have a highly lethal, non kinetic weapon that an operative
can just carry on to a street corner, or.
Speaker 1: Use from a hotel window, or even just passed by
a consulate in some suburban neighborhood. It offers the maximum
flexibility for targeting.
Speaker 2: Which brings us to the first and arguably the most
important scientific characteristic, the energy source itself. The device produces
pulsed radio waves.
Speaker 1: And this is the specific mechanism that US officials and
specialized academics have been speculating about for so long. They've
been saying this was the precise cause of the symptoms.
Speaker 2: This is there. I told you so moment right.
Speaker 1: We've used the term pulsed radio waves a lot, but
for you listening, we need to dive into the physics
of this for a second. Why is pulsed energy the
critical differentiator? I mean, we're not talking about continuous microwave
radiation like you'd find in a microwave oven, which would
generate heat and cause burns, And.
Speaker 2: That's the vital distinction. Continuous waves generate thermal damage, heat
damage which is easily detectable. Pulsed waves. On the other hand,
they deliver these rapid, high intensity bursts of energy that
are non thermal. They create mechanical effects inside the body,
specifically inside the cranial cavity.
Speaker 1: And the mechanism we believe is at play here is
often referred to as the Fray effect, sometimes called the
microwave hearing effect. Tell us what that is and how
it explains what the victims reported hearing a loud, high
pitched noise that nobody else around them could perceive.
Speaker 2: The Fray effect is this phenomenon where certain frequencies of
pulsed microwave or radiofrequency energy cause a thermolastic wave inside
the head. So when these tiny rapid pulses of energy
hit the soft tissues of the brain and the skull,
they cause this rapid, minuscule thermal expansion.
Speaker 1: So small it doesn't cause heat damage exactly.
Speaker 2: It's so small it doesn't burn you, but it's large
enough to generate an acoustic shock wave inside your own head.
Speaker 1: So that sudden expansion is creating a pressure wave. It's
I got kind of internal clapping sound right inside.
Speaker 2: Your skull precisely, and that internal pressure wave travels through
the soft tissue and is picked up by the inner ear,
specifically the coke lee, which then interprets it as sound.
This perfectly explains the victim's consistent reports of hearing a
high pitched metallic shriek or clicking or grinding that seems
to come from nowhere and is often directional.
Speaker 1: So the sound itself is just a byproduct of the
pressure that's being created inside the skull.
Speaker 2: It's the evidence of the attack happening, and.
Speaker 1: If the pulses are strong enough, that intense directed pressure wave,
the very same one that's causing the sound, is also
causing the mechanical stress that results in concussion like symptoms, vertigo,
and ultimately a traumatic brain injury.
Speaker 2: It's stealth trauma. The damage is all internal, not external.
There's no visible kinetic energy deployed.
Speaker 1: At all, and that's how the weapon achieves deniability, uses
these non thermal effects to cause traumatic damage completely least
circumventing the need for kinetic force. This has been the
technological white whale for investigators.
Speaker 2: For years, and now we have a physical piece of
hardware that verifies the exact energy signature and the exact
mechanism so.
Speaker 1: The device is small, it fits in a backpack, uses
pulse radio waves that align perfectly with the fray effect,
and we know it can cause TBI. That just leads
the third characteristic, which is kind of the geopolitical smoking gun.
Speaker 2: The third piece of evidence that confirms the urgency and
significance of this acquisition is the device's origin. While the
source material notes that it is not entirely Russian in origin,
it is comprised of various Russian.
Speaker 1: Components, which raises, as the reports say, significant concerns and
questions about a foreign adversaries potential role.
Speaker 2: A role in developing, utilizing, or at the very least
supplying the underlying technology for this weapon.
Speaker 1: That is the perfect segue, because now we have the
mechanism and we have the signature. This confirms that all
those journalistic deep dives that preceded this act position, especially
the ones linking these attacks to Russian intelligence, were likely
on the right track the whole time.
Speaker 2: The speculation has been replaced by a physical, tangible object
sitting in a lab. This acquisition is the operational confirmation
of years of painstaking, often dismissed, investigative.
Speaker 1: Work, and the focus now shifts directly from the technology
to the suspected actor.
Speaker 2: Right. This brings us back to the extensive reporting done
by the Insider in collaboration with sixty Minutes. Years before
the Pentagon ever got their hands on this device, they
had already laid the groundwork linking these attacks to a
specific and very aggressive unit of Russian military intelligence.
Speaker 1: That's named the Adversary. The key suspect identified in the
investigation is Unit two nine one five five, a very
shadowy unit that operates under the Russian Military Intelligence the
GRU and.
Speaker 2: Unit two nine one five five is not a reconnaissance unit.
They're not spies in the traditional sense. They are notorious
for being the gru's black operations arm. They specialize in
kinetic operations.
Speaker 1: Their official brief, according to the sources, is to kill
people and they blow things up, often with a spectacular,
undeniable force.
Speaker 2: Their resume is shocking. It includes the poisoning of Sergey
and Julia Scripol in Salisbury, England using the sophisticated nerve
agent novachok. I remember that, and they're attempted Coup and Montenegro.
They are known for these high impact, violent acts that
are designed to sew chaos or just eliminate targets.
Speaker 1: Which naturally raises a really critical question for US. If
Unit twenty one one five to five is the kinetic
operations team, the guys who blow things up, why would
they suddenly pivot to something so subtle, so highly technical,
and well non lethal at least not immediately.
Speaker 2: Why a directed energy weapon.
Speaker 1: It's a massive jump in capability and in doctrine, and
I think the answer has to lie in the strategic
value of deniability.
Speaker 2: Hmmm, that makes sense.
Speaker 1: The old kinetic operations, the poisoning, the bombing, they always
left a signature, a chemical signature, forensic evidence which eventually
led to attribution, just like it did in Salisbury. But
a non kinetic TBI attack, it leaves no trace. It
is the perfect weapon for twenty first century shadow warfare.
Speaker 2: And the investigative trail connecting Unit twenty nine one to
five to five to this specific technology is surprisingly robust.
It actually extends back even before the twenty sixteen Havana incidents.
It connects through two crucial types of evidence.
Speaker 1: Okay, so first there's the documentation trail. The investigation found
concrete evidence that Unit twenty nine to one to five
to five was actively involved in scientific research into directed
energy weapons.
Speaker 2: They had the internal documents from their inboxes to prove it.
This demonstrates not just the capability, but the strategic interest
in diversifying their lesal portfolio beyond just poisons and explosives.
Speaker 1: It shows a real shift in thinking within the GRU.
They recognized the need for a weapon that could achieve
the same result incapacitating or sidelining an adversaries operative, but
without all the diplomatic fallout of a traditional traceable attack.
Speaker 2: Directed energy provided that perfect bridge.
Speaker 1: But the second piece of evidence is to me even
more compelling because it directly links their operatives to the
victims years before the world ever even heard the term
Havana syndrome.
Speaker 2: It established as a clearer sinister pattern.
Speaker 1: It really does. The investigation was able to pinpoint two
GRU operatives from Unit two nine, one, five to five
and two different cities at two different time periods even
before twenty sixteen, specifically to Bilisi, Georgia in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2: And Frankfurt, Germany also around twenty fourteen and.
Speaker 1: Frankfurt, Germany also around twenty fourteen, And these locations weren't
random in both Chibilisi and Frankfurt. There were victims who
later succumbed to those exact neurological symptoms, those traumatic brain injuries,
and these weren't just any victims. There were highly valued
US assets, one.
Speaker 2: From the Department of Justice and the other from US
intelligence agencies.
Speaker 1: And their accounts were specific. They alleged that these GRU
operatives were and this is a quote, skulking around their
areas of operation, talking around. In Chavinisi, the operative was
seen near the victim's residents. In the suburban community. In Frankfurt,
the operative was located near the consulate. The operatives were there,
and then the invisible trauma followed. This established a pattern
dating all the way back to twenty fourteen, showing that
the attacks were far more widespread and started much earlier
than the US government had initially acknowledged.
Speaker 2: So if we synthesize all of this, you have investigative
journalism linking unit two nine one five five to scientific
research on directed energy weapons, and it places their personnel
near Prehavana syndrome victims years ago. Now, the Pentagon acquires
a device that matches the technology is portable enough for
these kinds of covert operations, and it contains Russian components.
Speaker 1: The connections are no longer theoretical. The existence of the
hardware is the final compelling piece of proof.
Speaker 2: It creates this incredibly compelling narrative. The device the Pentagon
is now testing is likely the operational realization of the
very directed energy research that Unit twenty nine to one
POT five was known to be conducting.
Speaker 1: And this acquisition is the indication for years of reporting
and I think more importantly for the victims.
Speaker 2: That vindication, though it comes mixed with some intense frustration,
especially given the history of institutional dismissal that the victims
have faced, and.
Speaker 1: That brings us to the shifting official stance and the
skepticism that reign for so so long.
Speaker 2: The years of denial are some massive painful part of
this story the victims. They feel largely that both the
Trump and Biden administrations initially just dismissed their reports, their symptoms,
their urgent calls for accountability.
Speaker 1: I mean, imagine suffering a debilitating TBI while you're serving
your country and being told by the very government you
serve that the injury is psychosomatic, that it's all on
your head.
Speaker 2: Horrifying.
Speaker 1: That skepticism was often reinforced by political and media figures
who just found the concept of an invisible TBI weapon
too fantastic, too sci fi.
Speaker 2: And we saw that specific example cited in the sources.
Then Senator jd Vance's churlish comment in response to the
initial investigative report that linked the attacks to Russia. He
publicly stated, the story feels like a lot of journalists
have lost their minds.
Speaker 1: That level of political skepticism was a convenient deflection, wasn't it.
It allowed the government to avoid addressing this terrifying, unproven
weapon that would demand a huge geopolitical response.
Speaker 2: Well, the investigation noted that when they presented their evidence,
you know, the operatives' locations, the scientific documents, nobody could
knock down what we did. The pushback wasn't based on
disproving the facts. It was just this repeated attempt to
deflect by saying, we still don't have any credible evidence.
Speaker 1: The bar for proof was set impossibly high because the
political consequences of accepting the truth were just so enormous.
Speaker 2: And look, the intelligence community operates with extreme caution, and
rightly so. To officially confirm the existence of a foreign
developed directed energy weapon that was used against US personnel
is tantamount to declaring an active aggression.
Speaker 1: That requires a level of certainty that is just incredibly
difficult to achieve in the world of espionage.
Speaker 2: But the tide has finally turned. Institutionally, we've seen a
major movement in the official narrative, specifically within the Intelligence
Community Assessment the ICA.
Speaker 1: Right, so, the ICA released an assessment in January of
twenty twenty five where two agencies, one of them widely
reported to be the National Security Agency of the NSA,
they altered their previous skepticism.
Speaker 2: And the new conclusion was a fifty to fifty chance
that such a directed energy device could actually exist.
Speaker 1: Now, a fifty to fifty chance might sound inconclusive to
you listening, but in the world of intelligence assessments, moving
from near zero confidence to a coin flip is a
seismic shift.
Speaker 2: It's huge. It signifies that the physical evidence, the reports
of the device acquisition, the consistent symptom profiles, the forensic linkages,
it has all become overwhelming enough to force a fundamental
change in institutional belief. The denial is just no longer sustainable, and.
Speaker 1: One agency when even further than the fifty to fifty mark,
we're told one specific intil diligence agency went on to
state that the device may have been used against Americans.
Speaker 2: Abroad, and that level of institutional admission is unprecedented. It
suggests they believe the attribution is strong, even if the
consensus needed for a full public declaration remains elusive.
Speaker 1: And it's not just the intelligence agencies that are quietly
moving the goalposts. Congress is also involved. We have the
report from the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from
last year, which concluded that it is increasingly likely that
some cases of ahies are caused by a foreign adversary.
Speaker 2: So this illustrates a major institutional shift from outright dismissal
to cautious acceptance across multiple branches of government, and.
Speaker 1: The acquisition of this physical device has served as the
ultimate catalyst forcing the official narrative to finally catch up
to the reality that journalists and victims had been insisting
on for years.
Speaker 2: But this institutional lag is precisely what compounds the victim
community's suffering and their suspicion. And this brings us way
back to Adam, to Patients zero and his core concern
regards the timeline of all this.
Speaker 1: Adam expressed this profound frustration. He said, if this device
has been in play for well over a year, meaning
the government already had the physical evidence in hand through
the Pentagon's acquisition, then why did the ICA in January
twenty twenty five still basically maintain a fifty to fifty
assessment or in some cases say it's not real.
Speaker 2: That discrepancy suggests a profound tension or even a potential
cover up aspect. As Adam put it, the government had
the physical mechanism of attack in their possession, yet the
official assessment, published over a year later, still played down
the reality of the weapon.
Speaker 1: The tension here is between the intelligence community's need for
absolute certainty before publicizing a weapon system that could ignite
an international crisis.
Speaker 2: And the victim communities justified concern that information was withheld
from them, information that could have led to faster medical breakthroughs,
to recognition, to assistance for their injuries.
Speaker 1: They feel betrayed by the institutional desire for caution trumping
their immediate documented suffering.
Speaker 2: It's a painful paradox. The device brings vindication for the
existence of the attacks but at the same time, it
raises these profound questions about institutional failure and opacity during
a time of crisis for US personnel.
Speaker 1: Okay, so now let's zoom out and look at the
bigger picture. Why is a backpack sized weapon causing such
a stir in the geopolitical arena? What is the real
strategic significance of his courtability?
Speaker 2: Well, the operational question of portability was the main reason
for years of dismissal. Intelligence officials just couldn't reconcile TBI
level damage with a mobile, concealed device. The fact that
the device fits in a backpack fundamentally changes the entire
strategic environment.
Speaker 1: It confirms that a sophisticated, damaging attack capability is now mobile,
It's stealthy, and it's easily deniable.
Speaker 2: This completely transforms the rules of engagement in covert operations. Traditionally,
a diplomatic officer might worry about electronic eavesdropping or physical.
Speaker 1: Surveillance normal spy games.
Speaker 2: Right now, the threat is existential and it's personal. They
have to worry about someone walking past them on the
street with a backpack capable of delivering a traumatic, permanent
brain injury. The battlefield is now any busy sidewalk in
any city in the world.
Speaker 1: And this leads directly to the core geopolitical concern proliferation.
If this technology proves viable and if Russia is confirmed
to have developed or successfully used it, which the sources
are strongly suggesting, the intelligence community is warning that it
could be proliferated.
Speaker 2: That is the terrifying implication. Proliferation means that several foreign
countries could obtain this exact capability. Suddenly, this isn't just
a US Russias shadow conflict being played out in high
risk capitals.
Speaker 1: Correct. We could be talking about state actors globally and
maybe even non state actors eventually gaining the ability to
target US personnel, diplomats, military attaches, intelligence officers abroad.
Speaker 2: With a highly effective, invisible means of incapacitation. A relatively
minor regional power could acquire a technology that gives them
the capability to permanently sideline a high value American target
without ever drawing clear military retaliation, and.
Speaker 1: The analysis of the intent, if it's proven, suggests a
new type of covert conflict. This is warfare that causes
traumatic brain injury and permanent incapacitation without traditional kinetic means.
It blurs the lines of what constitutes an act of
war or high level espionage.
Speaker 2: Think about the strategic advantage that gives you. You disable
the target, you gain a massive intelligence advantage, but you
never give the victim or the victim's government the clear,
irrefutable evidence needed to escalate or retaliate effectively.
Speaker 1: Maximum deniability with maximum impact exactly.
Speaker 2: That's why this backpack device is perhaps the most alarming
development in intelligence warfare in decades.
Speaker 1: And that's why the acquisition of the physical device is
so monumental. It provides the first concrete piece of evidence
to counter that deniability, and it shifts the burden of
proof back to the adversary.
Speaker 2: But ultimately, this device acquisition is a beacon of hope
for the victim community. Despite all the geopolitical implications and
the frustration over the institutional failures. Their immediate hope is
personal and it's medical.
Speaker 1: They want answers for their own health.
Speaker 2: They do. They hope that the acquisition and testing of
this device will bear fruit. They want it to answer
key questions, not just for accountability, but to lead to
some breakthroughs to help us with.
Speaker 1: Our health and understanding the specific mechanism the pulse radio waves.
That is the crucial first step. It's the first step
toward developing countermeasures, protective gear, and effective medical treatments for
these traumatic brain injuries that have been incorrectly categorized or
just dismissed for far too long.
Speaker 2: This entire saga, the years of denial, the tenacity of
the investigative journalists, the secret Pentagon operation, and the final
revelation of a backtack sized weapon. It's a staggering reminder
of how modern conflict is evolving beyond our recognition.
Speaker 1: The rules of espionage have completely changed. The image of
the spy trading secrets in the dark is being replaced
by the victims suffering debilitating neurological trauma delivered by invisible energy.
Speaker 2: So let's summarize the core conclusion for you, our listener.
The years of speculation about a secret energy weapon one
tied to an aggressive Russian intelligence unit Unit twenty nine
to one to five point five are no longer theoretical.
Speaker 1: They are now grounded in physical reality. The Pentagon is
actively testing a device with Russian components that perfectly matches
the suspected technology it's portable, it's stealthy, and it's generating
the pulsed radio waves consistent with all the reported symptoms.
Speaker 2: The needle of evidence has moved decisively toward conformation.
Speaker 1: The facts are startling, but the questions they raise about
our own preparedness and our institutional response are equally profound
and maybe even more concerning for national security.
Speaker 2: That leads to our final provocative thought for you to consider.
If an invisible, portable device easily concealed in a backpack
can cause de bild llitating brain injuries and was successfully
masked and dismissed by powerful government institutions for nearly a decade,
what does that imply about the actual nature of modern
low intensity conflict?
Speaker 1: How many other non kinetic attacks are occurring right now
that we are simply not equipped to register or even
classify as warfare.
Speaker 2: It forces us to ask, are we prepared to defend
against threats that don't involve a blast or a bullet,
but instead target the very function of the human brain.
Speaker 1: Indeed, so what do you think is the biggest national
security threat raised by this news? The actual possibility of
covert brain injury attacks by foreign adversaries or the evidence
that such an attack was successfully masked and dismissed by
government agencies for so long, demonstrating a failure of institutional recognition.
Let us know what you think about the tension between
the proven threat and the delayed official response.