‘The Biggest Coverup’: 60 Minutes Investigation Points to Microwave Weapons as Cause of Debilitating ‘Havana Syndrome’

60 Minutes’ Scott Pelley has revealed the results of a nine-year investigation into the cause of mysterious and debilitating attacks on American officials known as “Havana Syndrome.”

Pelley said on Sunday’s broadcast that a new type of weapon reliant on microwave energy can cause brain damage when aimed in the direction of a target.

“Tonight, we have details of a classified U.S. intelligence mission that has obtained a previously unknown weapon that may finally unlock a mystery,” Pelley began.

“Since at least 2016, U.S. diplomats, spies, and military officers have suffered crippling brain injuries. They’ve told of being hit by an overwhelming force, damaging their vision, hearing, sense of balance, and cognition. But the government has doubted their stories. They’ve been called delusional,” Pelley said.

“Now 60 Minutes has learned that a weapon that can inflict these injuries was obtained overseas and secretly tested on animals on a U.S. military base,” Pelley said, explaining:

U.S. agents who investigate illicit arms dealers heard that a Russian criminal network was selling a microwave weapon. Our sources tell us undercover agents of the Department of Homeland Security bought the weapon in 2024. The mission cost about $15 million, funded by the Pentagon.

“A high-level CIA source has told us — and this is a direct quote — ‘This is the biggest coverup I’ve seen in my adult life,’ end quote. Do you believe it was a coverup?” Pelley asked a Stanford university professor of medicine who led government-backed investigations into the syndrome.

“Yes, I do. Through a variety of purposes and means, not necessarily as a pre-planned, strategic operation. But in essence, it arrives at the same result,” answered Dr. David Railman.

“In both of our investigations, we found the large majority of work to have been conducted in the former Soviet Union” on a unique pattern of microwaves that can cause brain damage, Railman said.

An ex-CIA officer told Pelley that he firmly believes the Russians are involved and the U.S. government continues to deny the link due to political reasons.

“I mean, if we acknowledge this was a state actor that was doing this, it is essentially a declaration of war against the United States, which has to have a response from the United States government,” the ex-officer said. “In my opinion, I don’t know that the appetite was there to respond to the Russians at that time.”

Pelley concluded:

The sources who informed our reporting told us the classified mission to obtain the microwave weapon points to a troubling reality. They say there are likely many of these devices. And if undercover agents could purchase one from gangsters, then the Russians have lost control of a stealth weapon that could be used by anyone, anywhere.

Watch the clip above via CBS News’ 60 Minutes.

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