A retired CIA agent says he is still suffering from mysterious, crippling migraines almost three years after a visit to Moscow and that there are still-active CIA agents who can trace their own similar ailments back to their service in Russia.
The agent, Mark Polymeropoulos, had been in the agency for 26 years and served in war zones in Iraq and Afganistan, but never had problems until a visit to the Marriott Hotel near the U.S. Embassy in Moscow in December 2017, reports NPR.
"I was awoken in the middle of the night," he said. "I just had incredible vertigo, dizziness. I wanted to throw up. The room was spinning. I couldn't even stand up without falling down. I had tinnitus ringing in my ears."
The agent said he thought he had a bad case of food poisoning and went on with his trip, which included meetings with senior Russian intelligence officials. He suffered a second bout of the mysterious illness and returned to the United States.
Polymeropoulos, then the agency's No. 2 official for clandestine operations in Europe, including Russia, started suffering from migraines in February 2018. After numerous examinations, he was diagnosed with occipital neuralgia, a nerve inflammation or injury, but it was not clear how he ended up with it.
Similar symptoms have been reported since 2016 among more than diplomats in China and Cuba, but Polymeropoulos is the first to link his illness to Russia, as first reported in GQ.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said her office has received several complaints, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denies there were any politics involved.
There are several theories about the brain injuries, including that the officials had been subjected to sonic or microwave attacks, either to injure them or as collateral damage, while spies tried to steal secrets from their phones or computers, but Russia, China, and Cuba all deny such actions.
Polymeropoulos retired last year and denies he's a disgruntled former employee. He said was allowed to enroll in a study at the National Institutes of Health. He wants specialized brain treatment at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, which the CIA has "actively rejected."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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