US spies in Havana hit by bizarre health attacks

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http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire...k-cuba-50226035

Quote:
Frightening attacks on U.S. personnel in Havana struck the heart of America's spy network in Cuba, with intelligence operatives among the first and most severely affected victims, The Associated Press has learned.

It wasn't until U.S. spies, posted to the embassy under diplomatic cover, reported hearing bizarre sounds and experiencing even stranger physical effects that the United States realized something was wrong, individuals familiar with the situation said.

While the attacks started within days of President Donald Trump's surprise election in November, the precise timeline remains unclear, including whether intelligence officers were the first victims hit or merely the first victims to report it. The U.S. has called the situation "ongoing."

To date, the Trump administration largely has described the 21 victims as U.S. embassy personnel or "members of the diplomatic community." That description suggested only bona fide diplomats and their family members were struck, with no logical motivation beyond disrupting U.S.-Cuban relations.

Behind the scenes, though, investigators immediately started searching for explanations in the darker, rougher world of spycraft and counterespionage, given that so many of the first reported cases involved intelligence workers posted to the U.S. embassy. That revelation, confirmed to the AP by a half-dozen officials, adds yet another element of mystery to a year-long saga that the Trump administration says may not be over.

The State Department and the CIA declined to comment for this story.

The first disturbing reports of piercing, high-pitched noises and inexplicable ailments pointed to someone deliberately targeting the U.S. government's intelligence network on the communist-run island, in what seemed like a bone-chilling escalation of the tit-for-tat spy games that Washington and Havana have waged over the last half century.

But the U.S. soon discovered that actual diplomats at the embassy had also been hit by similar attacks, officials said, further confounding the search for a culprit and a motive.

Of the 21 confirmed cases, American spies suffered some of the most acute damage, including brain injury and hearing loss that has not healed, said several U.S. officials who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the investigation and demanded anonymity. They heard an unsettling sound inside and in some cases outside their Havana homes, described as similar to loud crickets. Then they fell ill.

Over time, the attacks seemed to evolve.

In many of the more recent cases, victims didn't hear noises and weren't aware an attack was occurring, identifying the symptoms only later. That has raised concerns among investigators that the attacks may be getting more sophisticated and harder to detect, individuals briefed on the investigation said.

Though the State Department has called all the cases "medically confirmed," several U.S. officials said it's unclear whether all of the victims' symptoms can be conclusively tied to attacks. Considering the deep sense of alarm among Americans working in the embassy, it's possible some workers attributed unrelated illnesses to attacks.

Almost nothing about what has transpired in Havana is perfectly clear. But this is Cuba.

For decades, Washington and Havana pushed their rivalry to unprecedented levels of covert action. The former enemies tracked each other's personnel, turned each other's agents and, in the case of the CIA, even mounted a failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban government in the 1961 "Bay of Pigs" invasion.

There were hopes, though, that the two nations were starting to put that bitter history behind them after renewing diplomatic relations in 2015. When the attacks first occurred, the U.S. and Cuban governments were hard at work on clinching new commercial and immigration agreements. No new spat among intelligence services was publicly known.

Eleven months on, the U.S. cannot guarantee the threat is over. Last week, the State Department warned Americans to stay away from Cuba and ordered more than half the embassy staff to leave indefinitely. The U.S. had previously given all embassy staff the option to come home, but even most of those struck by the mysterious attacks had opted to stay, individuals familiar with the situation said.

For those staying and new arrivals, the U.S. has been giving instructions about what to watch and listen for to identify an attack in progress. They're also learning steps to take if an attack occurs that could mitigate the risk, officials said.

But the U.S. has not identified whatever device is responsible for the harm. FBI sweeps have turned up nothing.

So to better identify patterns, investigators have created a map detailing specific areas of Cuba's capital where attacks have occurred, several individuals familiar with the matter said. Three "zones," or geographic clusters of attacks, cover the homes where U.S. diplomats live and several hotels where attacks occurred, including the historic Hotel Capri.

Since first disclosing the situation in August, the United States had generally avoided the word "attacks." It called them "incidents" instead until last Friday. Now, the State Department deems them "specific attacks" targeting Americans posted in Havana, without saying what new information, if any, prompted the newfound confidence they were indeed deliberate.

The most obvious motive for attacking Americans in Havana would be to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Cuba. If that's the case, the strategy appears to be succeeding.

Last week's embassy drawdown added to the growing friction between the nations. And an accompanying new travel warning deemed Havana's hotels unsafe for visitors, threatening to drive down tourism, a backbone of Cuba's economy.

In Havana, American diplomats are frantically selling off possessions — from mattresses to canned goods to children's toys — and hurriedly making plans to return to the U.S., where some haven't lived in years. The State Department has worked feverishly to arrange transportation, temporary jobs and places to live for those coming back early from Cuba.

"Heartbroken? Me too, but this will make you feel better," one seller posted in a chatroom for foreigners in Cuba, under a picture of a Costco artichoke hearts jar selling for $6.

For Cubans, it may be no better. The U.S. has been providing 20,000 visas a year to Cubans moving to the United States. It has issued thousands more to Cubans wishing to visit family in America. The reduction in U.S. staff in Havana means visa processing there has been suspended indefinitely.

Cuba has vehemently denied involvement or knowledge of the attacks. Some in the U.S. government believe the Cubans may be telling the truth, officials said.

When President Raul Castro denied any culpability in February, he did so on the sidelines a meeting in Havana with five visiting U.S. members of Congress, the AP found. The U.S. had raised complaints about the attacks to Cuba just days earlier through diplomatic channels.

But the visiting lawmakers knew nothing of the attacks taking place in the country they were visiting.

Nor did they know that Castro had used the occasion of their meeting to pull aside Jeff DeLaurentis, then the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, to say privately that his government was equally alarmed and willing to help.

The lawmakers all declined to comment. Cuban officials say they're disappointed in the U.S. retaliatory measures but will continue cooperating with the investigation.


This is definitely one of the strangest things I've ever read about. So outlandish, I have verified the story in multiple ways, completely convinced it was fake news.

The device is supposed to sound like really loud crickets, and then you start getting sick. They have no idea what the heck this thing is, but it's really spooky.

Whether or not it's surveillance equipment gone wrong, the operators now know this thing can ruin a person's health without them even knowing what hit them.
 
I guess they never heard of ear plugs. If I heard a loud sound I think I'd plug my ears. It seems to work for my wife.
 
It's probably not the Cubans. US-Cuba relations have been warming, and Raul Castro took the unusual step of calling for a personal meeting with the US ambassador to Cuba about the issue.

This comes after oil tankers near Russia have reported extreme GPS issues and 2 US Navy collisions have forced our fleet to navigate by compass.

This comes after we find out that Russia was buying Facebook ads for subversive/extremist groups like BLM, the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and possibly Trump (anything to interrupt the status quo).

Does anyone remember that exchange about Russia in a certain presidential debate? "The 80s called - they want their foreign policy back." I don't think so...
 
Left leaning Snopes is calling the story false. No surprise there, Snopes will not have anyone wag a finger at their darling Cuba.
 
I would guess it is the Russians, they are still quite cozy with Cuba and are tweaking the US wherever they can across the globe.
We need to bump up the retribution a notch and start providing massive funding to the Russian opposition....
 
Weapons like this have been around a long time. Tesla invented and theorized about scalar weapons and this like what this sounds like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Of course, he was thought of as a loony, but that certainly didn't stop the government from quickly confiscating all of his materials as soon as he died.

He created AC electricity, radio, first remote controlled object, wireless transmission of electricity, etc... who are we to believe that most or all of his other ideas aren't feasible just because we don't understand the theory on his level?
 
too me this looks like escalation of cold war.
russkies are giving rocket and nuclear technology to north korea in addition to other things (internet connection comes to mind), while massively infiltrating and hacking US cyberspace. Chinese are probably helping them (they always supported and supplied north Korea) and are good at hacking and stealing secrets too.

i hate to say it, but something big is coming up, and preppers could have it right in the first place.
 
Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
Left leaning Snopes is calling the story false. No surprise there, Snopes will not have anyone wag a finger at their darling Cuba.

+1
 
Originally Posted By: SubieRubyRoo
Weapons like this have been around a long time. Tesla invented and theorized about scalar weapons and this like what this sounds like in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Of course, he was thought of as a loony, but that certainly didn't stop the government from quickly confiscating all of his materials as soon as he died.

He created AC electricity, radio, first remote controlled object, wireless transmission of electricity, etc... who are we to believe that most or all of his other ideas aren't feasible just because we don't understand the theory on his level?
Marconi did more for "radio" than Tesla. BTW Tesla didn't "create" AC, he simply figured out how to use it.
 
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Marconi did more for "radio" than Tesla. BTW Tesla didn't "create" AC, he simply figured out how to use it.


maybe so, but Marconi stole Tesla's radio ideas. read the history.

as for the AC part, you are right, but he championed it greatly unlike Edison who hated the idea and fought it as much as he could.
 
I'm guessing it's too late, but can we keep this seriously interesting topic from getting locked if possible? I haven't even had a chance o reply yet. Will this evening when I have time, but work to be done.
 
Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Marconi did more for "radio" than Tesla. BTW Tesla didn't "create" AC, he simply figured out how to use it.


maybe so, but Marconi stole Tesla's radio ideas. read the history.

as for the AC part, you are right, but he championed it greatly unlike Edison who hated the idea and fought it as much as he could.


Jacek, you're right. My point was, nobody had created a viable usage of AC before Tesla, and Edison's best efforts be dammed, AC stuck. It's sad that Edison won the war; Tesla is not even taught to kids in school these days. Go back and read some of his patents and ideas... he had working examples of some of his projects 30,40,50+ years before they were truly accepted- and some of his ideas are still publicly discounted while certainly pursued under black-budget projects.

Ultrasound or infrasonics may be at play here. ELF has been proven to cause severe health issues when humans are exposed over a long period of time.
 
Originally Posted By: DoubleWasp
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wire...k-cuba-50226035

Quote:
Frightening attacks on U.S. personnel in Havana struck the heart of America's spy network in Cuba, with intelligence operatives among the first and most severely affected victims, The Associated Press has learned.

It wasn't until U.S. spies, posted to the embassy under diplomatic cover, reported hearing bizarre sounds and experiencing even stranger physical effects that the United States realized something was wrong, individuals familiar with the situation said.

While the attacks started within days of President Donald Trump's surprise election in November, the precise timeline remains unclear, including whether intelligence officers were the first victims hit or merely the first victims to report it. The U.S. has called the situation "ongoing."

To date, the Trump administration largely has described the 21 victims as U.S. embassy personnel or "members of the diplomatic community." That description suggested only bona fide diplomats and their family members were struck, with no logical motivation beyond disrupting U.S.-Cuban relations.

Behind the scenes, though, investigators immediately started searching for explanations in the darker, rougher world of spycraft and counterespionage, given that so many of the first reported cases involved intelligence workers posted to the U.S. embassy. That revelation, confirmed to the AP by a half-dozen officials, adds yet another element of mystery to a year-long saga that the Trump administration says may not be over.

The State Department and the CIA declined to comment for this story.

The first disturbing reports of piercing, high-pitched noises and inexplicable ailments pointed to someone deliberately targeting the U.S. government's intelligence network on the communist-run island, in what seemed like a bone-chilling escalation of the tit-for-tat spy games that Washington and Havana have waged over the last half century.

But the U.S. soon discovered that actual diplomats at the embassy had also been hit by similar attacks, officials said, further confounding the search for a culprit and a motive.

Of the 21 confirmed cases, American spies suffered some of the most acute damage, including brain injury and hearing loss that has not healed, said several U.S. officials who weren't authorized to speak publicly on the investigation and demanded anonymity. They heard an unsettling sound inside and in some cases outside their Havana homes, described as similar to loud crickets. Then they fell ill.

Over time, the attacks seemed to evolve.

In many of the more recent cases, victims didn't hear noises and weren't aware an attack was occurring, identifying the symptoms only later. That has raised concerns among investigators that the attacks may be getting more sophisticated and harder to detect, individuals briefed on the investigation said.

Though the State Department has called all the cases "medically confirmed," several U.S. officials said it's unclear whether all of the victims' symptoms can be conclusively tied to attacks. Considering the deep sense of alarm among Americans working in the embassy, it's possible some workers attributed unrelated illnesses to attacks.

Almost nothing about what has transpired in Havana is perfectly clear. But this is Cuba.

For decades, Washington and Havana pushed their rivalry to unprecedented levels of covert action. The former enemies tracked each other's personnel, turned each other's agents and, in the case of the CIA, even mounted a failed attempt to overthrow the Cuban government in the 1961 "Bay of Pigs" invasion.

There were hopes, though, that the two nations were starting to put that bitter history behind them after renewing diplomatic relations in 2015. When the attacks first occurred, the U.S. and Cuban governments were hard at work on clinching new commercial and immigration agreements. No new spat among intelligence services was publicly known.

Eleven months on, the U.S. cannot guarantee the threat is over. Last week, the State Department warned Americans to stay away from Cuba and ordered more than half the embassy staff to leave indefinitely. The U.S. had previously given all embassy staff the option to come home, but even most of those struck by the mysterious attacks had opted to stay, individuals familiar with the situation said.

For those staying and new arrivals, the U.S. has been giving instructions about what to watch and listen for to identify an attack in progress. They're also learning steps to take if an attack occurs that could mitigate the risk, officials said.

But the U.S. has not identified whatever device is responsible for the harm. FBI sweeps have turned up nothing.

So to better identify patterns, investigators have created a map detailing specific areas of Cuba's capital where attacks have occurred, several individuals familiar with the matter said. Three "zones," or geographic clusters of attacks, cover the homes where U.S. diplomats live and several hotels where attacks occurred, including the historic Hotel Capri.

Since first disclosing the situation in August, the United States had generally avoided the word "attacks." It called them "incidents" instead until last Friday. Now, the State Department deems them "specific attacks" targeting Americans posted in Havana, without saying what new information, if any, prompted the newfound confidence they were indeed deliberate.

The most obvious motive for attacking Americans in Havana would be to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Cuba. If that's the case, the strategy appears to be succeeding.

Last week's embassy drawdown added to the growing friction between the nations. And an accompanying new travel warning deemed Havana's hotels unsafe for visitors, threatening to drive down tourism, a backbone of Cuba's economy.

In Havana, American diplomats are frantically selling off possessions — from mattresses to canned goods to children's toys — and hurriedly making plans to return to the U.S., where some haven't lived in years. The State Department has worked feverishly to arrange transportation, temporary jobs and places to live for those coming back early from Cuba.

"Heartbroken? Me too, but this will make you feel better," one seller posted in a chatroom for foreigners in Cuba, under a picture of a Costco artichoke hearts jar selling for $6.

For Cubans, it may be no better. The U.S. has been providing 20,000 visas a year to Cubans moving to the United States. It has issued thousands more to Cubans wishing to visit family in America. The reduction in U.S. staff in Havana means visa processing there has been suspended indefinitely.

Cuba has vehemently denied involvement or knowledge of the attacks. Some in the U.S. government believe the Cubans may be telling the truth, officials said.

When President Raul Castro denied any culpability in February, he did so on the sidelines a meeting in Havana with five visiting U.S. members of Congress, the AP found. The U.S. had raised complaints about the attacks to Cuba just days earlier through diplomatic channels.

But the visiting lawmakers knew nothing of the attacks taking place in the country they were visiting.

Nor did they know that Castro had used the occasion of their meeting to pull aside Jeff DeLaurentis, then the top U.S. diplomat in Cuba, to say privately that his government was equally alarmed and willing to help.

The lawmakers all declined to comment. Cuban officials say they're disappointed in the U.S. retaliatory measures but will continue cooperating with the investigation.


This is definitely one of the strangest things I've ever read about. So outlandish, I have verified the story in multiple ways, completely convinced it was fake news.

The device is supposed to sound like really loud crickets, and then you start getting sick. They have no idea what the heck this thing is, but it's really spooky.

Whether or not it's surveillance equipment gone wrong, the operators now know this thing can ruin a person's health without them even knowing what hit them.



The same thing was reported by Canadian diplomats. Many have permanent hearing loss.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cuba-canadian-diplomat-1.4242033
 
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