The U.S. Is Still Clueless About the Creepy 'Sonic' Attacks in China and Cuba

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The U.S. Is Still Clueless About the Creepy 'Sonic' Attacks in China and Cuba
Americans are being sent home from the consulate in Guangzhou, China after mystery attacks that resemble those against the Havana embassy.
popularmechanics.com
Jun 7, 2018

It sounds like the plot device of a techno-thriller or spy novel. In 2016 and 2017, 24 diplomats in Cuba reported hearing strange noises. Later, they showed symptoms of neurological damage similar to the effects of a concussion.

“Following exposure, patients experienced cognitive, vestibular, and oculomotor dysfunction, along with auditory symptoms, sleep abnormalities, and headache,” one medical report states.

And then something similar happened again, half a world away. In late May, a State Department employee in Guangzhou, China reported “abnormal sensations of sound and pressure” that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said are “very similar” and “entirely consistent” with what happened in Havana. More Americans are being sent home from China.

Even now, though, real answers about this mystery weapon remain hard to come by.
The Long Road to Nowhere

The investigators from the State Department’s medical unit, FBI agents, and top notch academic epidemiologists have all looked into the problem. The latest effort is the Health Incidents Response Task Force that the State Department announced this week. The task force “includes interagency partners such as the Departments of Health and Human Services, Commerce, Justice, Defense and Energy, as well as other members of the foreign affairs community,” State Department spokesperson Nicole Thompson told Popular Mechanics via email.

The entity seems to be more of a trip line to detect future attacks than a concerted effort to find the culprits behind the Cuban and Chinese incidents. The task force’s stated mandate is to serve as “the coordinating body for … identification and treatment of affected personnel and family members, investigation and risk mitigation, messaging, and diplomatic outreach.” In other words, finding future victims and protecting staff.

There are two reasons State is paranoid about missing future attacks. For one thing, the attack in China has led to real fear of either a wider plot by a foreign power (many say Russia) or the rise of copycats who see a way to hurt and terrorize U.S. diplomats with impunity.

The other reason is political. State Department officials took a bi-partisan beating during Congressional hearings regarding their reactions to the attacks. “The failure of leadership by the department in that post, the sluggish reaction to the initial reports of afflicted personnel, the aloof response of the medical team at the State Department, silence from diplomatic security to the rest of the department is simply staggering,” Sen. Robert Menendez fumed in January. (Because the attacks occurred under both Obama and Trump, critics of all political persuasions, especially those who disapprove of the détente with Cuba, have room to maneuver.)

“All government personnel who travel to Havana on official duty now receive a detailed medical briefing,” Charles Rosenfarb, medical director in State’s Bureau of Medical Services, testified. “And they are encouraged to undergo pre-deployment screening including baseline audiograms and neurocognitive testing.”
https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a21201860/sonic-attack-cuba-china-guangzhou/