‘We Just Want Our Lives Back’: Havana Syndrome Victims Speak Out

Three foreign service officials have come forward to share their experiences with the unexplained medical symptoms known as Havana Syndrome. Speaking to NBC News, Tina Onufer, Kate Husband, and Doug Ferguson received permission from the State Department to talk about the bizarre neurological injuries—including balance issues, nausea, and brain fog—sustained after “a directional phenomenon exposure.” Onufer said that the invisible blast that hit her in 2017 caused her “pain that I have never felt before in my life.”

Some symptoms have been linked to brain damage, aging victims by as much as “20, 25 years all at once,” according to Husband. “The cognitive issues are multilayered,” she said. NBC News reported that up to 200 American diplomats, intel officers, and foreign service officials have been affected and President Biden recently signed the Havana Act, authorizing easier access to compensation for victims. Onufer said she spoke out to push back against skeptics who dismiss it as a form of mass psychosis. “People don’t understand what this kind of brain damage can do to you,” she said. “So it’s very easy for people to be dismissive and say, ‘But you look fine.’ But the reality is, I’m not. And I don’t think very many of us are. And we just want to have our lives back.”