Norway scientist 'gives himself brain damage' while secretly testing weapon he built to disprove 'Havana Syndrome'

An anonymous government scientist working on a classified research project in 2024 is said to have built a device capable of emitting powerful pulses of microwave radiation.

He reportedly tested it to prove that its effects would not give him the same collection of mysterious symptoms experienced by hundreds of US officials.

Cases of the unexplained neurological symptoms - including dizziness, headaches and insomnia - are referred to as Havana Syndrome.

The first cases were reported in 2016, when diplomats stationed in the US embassy in Cuba started suffering extreme headaches, vertigo, memory loss and hearing loss.

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Similar symptoms have been reported by diplomats and government staff in over 15 countries since then. The US government refers to these reports as “anomalous health incidents”. 

Some have claimed the unexplained illness could be the result of “pulsed-energy” devices which deliver powerful beams of electromagnetic energy in short bursts.

The Norwegian scientist’s recreation of such a device to disprove the theory appears to have backfired, although an official familiar with the case said the researcher's symptoms are not an exact match for "classic" case of Havana Syndrome.

Norway’s government has informed the CIA about their scientist’s covert test and the results, according to The Washington Post.

It has reportedly led to at least two visits from Pentagon and White House officials.

People familiar with the test said the results did not prove US diplomats and spies were targeted by a foreign enemy, but said they did show that pulsed-energy devices can affect human biology.

Years before the first Havana Syndrome cases were reported, incidents of microwave radiation directed against US officials were documented abroad.

One official, Michael Beck, said he was sent on an assignment to a hostile country in 1996 and woke up one morning with extreme fatigue and weakness.

Mr Beck was diagnosed with early onset Parkinson's disease aged 46 a decade later. Around the same time, his colleague who was on the same trip received the same diagnosis and died several years later.

Mr Beck died In January 2026 aged 59. 

A report by the National Security Agency confirmed “there is intelligence information from 2012 associating the hostile country to which Mr Beck traveled in the late 1990s with a high-powered microwave system weapon that may have the ability to weaken, intimidate, or kill an enemy over time and without leaving evidence.”

The country Beck travelled to is still classified but the US government has documented one country and its intelligence services going to extreme lengths to target the US Embassy and American personnel.

“I was sick in the stomach and shocked when I read that report,” Mr. Beck told The Washington Post in 2017. 

“I am familiar with other things this hostile country does, and it just felt raw and unfair,” he added.

Despite numerous studies by government and academic researchers, no consensus has been reached on the cause of the symptoms of Havana Syndrome- which more than 200 government employees have reported experiencing.

Speculation has mounted that the symptoms could be the result of so-called “pulsed-energy” devices, which deliver electromagnetic energy in short bursts.

Donald Trump has even hinted at the use of such a device, saying:  “The Discombobulator. I’m not allowed to talk about it.

“They never got their rockets off. They had Russian and Chinese rockets, and they never got one off. We came in, they pressed buttons and nothing worked. They were all set for us.”

Last year, the Department of Defense purchased a backpack-size device through an undercover operation it said appeared capable of causing neurological damage.Some investigators said the device could have been behind the mysterious Havana Syndrome reports.

The device is not entirely Russian in origin but contains Russian components and produced pulsed radio waves, a source told CNN.