A new report released Saturday by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine found the illnesses of American diplomats working at the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in late 2016 and the U.S. Consulate in Guangzhou, China, in early 2017, may be consistent with a radio frequency attack.
The report, which was completed at the request of the U.S. State Department, listed a number of the potential causes of illnesses sustained by dozens of U.S. diplomats, but concluded, “these acute symptoms were more consistent with a directed radio frequency (RF) energy attack.”
The report comes after State Department employees reported suffering hearing damage, as well as headaches, dizziness, nausea, cognitive deficits and even memory loss. Some of the employees also described hearing a clicking noise and one prior study said the piercing sound they heard may have just been that of the Indies short-tailed cricket. The latest study now suggests the illness-inducing sound may have been a deliberate sonic attack after all.
The report stated, “Many of the acute, early phase symptoms and observations reported by DOS employees are consistent with RF effects, including a perceived clicking sound within the head even when ears were covered.”
The report does not blame any specific nation or group for the sonic attack but does state there “was significant research in Russia/USSR into the effects of pulsed, rather than continuous wave (CW) RF exposures.” The report also states studies of RF exposure on military personnel in “Eurasian communist countries” experienced similar symptoms to those reported by the U.S. diplomats.
Russia has denied any connection with the alleged sonic attack and Axios reported CIA Director Gina Haspel “has not concluded the Kremlin was responsible.”
Cuba also denied any connection with the alleged sonic attack in Havana, though, the U.S. paused visa services for Cubans and expelled Cuban diplomats working at the Cuban embassy in Washington in a retaliatory response to the incident. In 2018, State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert said, “We strongly remind the Cuban government of its responsibility under the Vienna Convention to protect our diplomats.”
Mark Lenzi, a diplomatic security officer who was affected by the apparent sonic attack in Guangzhou, China has sued the State Department for disability discrimination and has alleged a cover-up of the attack.
“My government looked the other way when they knew I and my family were injured,” Lenzi said in an interview with the New York Times. “This report is just the beginning and when the American people know the full extent of this administration’s cover-up of the radiofrequency attacks in China in particular they will be outraged.”
Office of Special Counsel has also reportedly been pursuing two different investigations into the State Department’s conduct surrounding the alleged sonic attack.
