Apparently 16 of our diplomats in Cuba have come down with suspicious medical problems, something officials are not speculating could have been caused by some type of advanced sonic weapon using ‘infrasound’:
FOX NEWS – Reports that a mysterious sonic weapon has been used to target American diplomats in Cuba are puzzling scientists.
Citing a review of medical records, CBS News reported Wednesday that some U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, and likely damage to the central nervous system, after an apparent sonic attack targeted their homes.
State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that she could not confirm the CBS report during a press briefing Thursday. “We would never give information about the the health status of one of the Americans,” she said.
Nauert did confirm that at least 16 U.S. Government employees have experienced some kind of symptoms and have been provided medical treatment in America and Cuba.
Earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that U.S. diplomats in Havana had been the victims of “health attacks” that left them with hearing loss. His comments came shortly after the State Department issued a vaguely worded statement saying there had been “incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms.” U.S. officials later revealed that American diplomats had suffered unexplained losses of hearing. Canada’s government also said at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba also had been treated for hearing loss.
The reports have baffled scientists. “The story is mysterious indeed,” explained Dr. Jürgen Altmann, a physics professor at Technische Universität Dortmund in Germany, in a statement emailed to Fox News. “I know of no acoustic effect that would produce concussion-like symptoms; according to my research strong effects on humans require loudness levels that would be perceived as very loud noise while exposed.”
Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Charles Liberman told LiveScience that sound-induced hearing loss requires the part of that senses audible sound to be overloaded.
Cuba’s government has denied any involvement in the incidents and the State Department has not identified the source of the attacks.”We’re not assigning responsibility at this point, we don’t know who the perpetrator was of these incidents,” said Nauert during Thursday’s press briefing. “The investigation is ongoing and we will continue to try to find the source of these incidents and the perpetrator.”
There has, however, been speculation that the devices used against the U.S. diplomats generated infrasound, a low frequency sound below the human hearing range. In a paper published last year with the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., researcher Ryan Littlefield explained that “the term ‘infrasound’ defines itself as the inaudible frequency range below the human bandwidth of around 20Hz.” In the paper, Littlefield describes infrasound’s potential military use “to immobilise or impair targets.”
Another possibility is that ultrasound, which is above 20Khz, and also cannot be heard by humans, was employed. “One may speculate whether ultrasound (that is inaudible) was used, but projecting it over a considerable distance and/or through walls or closed windows is difficult,” said Altmann.
I think it’s possible that if this sonic technology exists, our military probably knows about it. But they might not want to acknowledge it, especially if they are doing research and development on it.
So until an investigation turns something up, I suppose this will remain a mystery.