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Hearing Loss of US Diplomats In Cuba Is Blamed On Covert Device (bostonglobe.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the acoustic-attack dept.

bsharma shares a report from The Boston Globe: The two-year-old U.S. diplomatic relationship with Cuba was roiled Wednesday by what U.S. officials say was a string of bizarre incidents that left a group of American diplomats in Havana with severe hearing loss attributed to a covert sonic device. In the fall of 2016, a series of U.S. diplomats began suffering unexplained losses of hearing, according to officials with knowledge of the investigation into the case. Several of the diplomats were recent arrivals at the embassy, which reopened in 2015 as part of former President Barack Obama's reestablishment of diplomatic relations with Cuba. Some of the diplomats' symptoms were so severe that they were forced to cancel their tours early and return to the United States, officials said. After months of investigation, U.S. officials concluded that the diplomats had been exposed to an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences. It was not immediately clear if the device was a weapon used in a deliberate attack, or had some other purpose.

19 of 224 comments (clear)

  1. Damn that Roadrunner... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Another mishipment by the ACME Corporation.

  2. I HEAR Cuba is a wonderful place to live by jfdavis668 · · Score: 4, Funny

    What?

  3. An eye for an eye? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    "They sent us some Kanye West cd's, let's pay them back in kind"...?

  4. Poorly maintained local electronics? by wired_parrot · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Cubans are known for their DIY, improvised repairs that has kept together their infrastructure even during decades of economic hardship and an embargo. Could this just be a poorly done local electronic repair job on a power transformer, for example? The locals may well be suffering from the same issue health issues, but given the communist mindset, no one had the courage to complain. I'd wager more on poorly done electronic repair job than cloak and dagger spy tricks.

    1. Re:Poorly maintained local electronics? by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Insightful

      There are millions and millions of transformers all over the world, in countries far poorer than Cuba, and they have been in use over the course of a hundred years. If this was remotely realistic (a transformer going bad or being repaired in such a way that it could cause subaudible soundwaves that damage hearing but in such a subtle way that no one notices it happening) then it would have been encountered many times before. Think of it - any time you would have an entire family of people going deaf at the same time, there would be extensive investigation into the cause, even in a third world country. If anything it would at least make the news, even if the cause was not found.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
    2. Re: Poorly maintained local electronics? by elcor · · Score: 3, Insightful

      That or ultrasonic mosquito repellents. A 35$ pest repellent gives me headache and killed my high frequency earing.

    3. Re:Poorly maintained local electronics? by Solandri · · Score: 3, Interesting

      FWIW, in grad school I worked with sonars which emitted in the 12-35 kHz frequency range. I wasn't exposed to them regularly, but I did get blasted a few dozen times (very annoying when it's in the audible range). Because they're designed to operate underwater, the transducers pack a lot more energy than speakers designed for the air (water being 800x denser than air).

      By the time I was 35 my hearing above 11 kHz was pretty much gone. On those hearing tests, I rated among 60- and 70-year olds. And no I didn't listen to loud music as a kid. I actually hated rock concerts because of how loud they were, and only went to one in my life (part of a school rally). The loss seems to have stabilized. I'm 48 now and I'm still able to hear 11 kHz, but not above.

      I didn't notice it happening, and it happened pretty rapidly (within a few years). Because of the relatively few incidents of exposure and short durations (single pings - this was in the days before CHIRP sonars), I've wondered if the cause wasn't the sonars, but rather some electronic device. Say, a component in a computer I used all the time, constantly exposing me to high frequency noise just outside my hearing range for hours every day. I do suffer tinnitus, though oddly it doesn't bother me as it's in the frequencies I've lost so doesn't interfere with hearing "real" sounds.

  5. Re:Remind me... by kilfarsnar · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If the commies are harming our diplomats, why did Odumba normalize relations with them? As usual, Odumba had no clue about foreign policy. Castro may be dead, but the antics haven't changed. I expect the Democrats to attack me for asking this, but the question needs an answer.

    Yeah, you seem like you're up for a reasoned, civil debate...

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  6. Doubtful it was the Cubans by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think it is very doubtful it was the Cuban government. They want money from the USA, in the form of tourism, the ability for people in the USA to send money back home to family in Cuba, etc. Obama already set all that in motion and gave it to them for free (IE without any worthwhile conditions or concessions from the Cuban government). The Castros should be tickled pink with the state of things - they still have full control, yet are now getting some respect and official acknowledgement from the superpower next door, and money, goods and services are beginning to flow into their country.

    So it makes absolutely no sense for them to do something as petty as this - injuring diplomats from the USA for no good reason whatsoever, with the only possible result being harm to relations between the two countries. If the Cuban government didn't want these diplomats there, they would simply tell them to leave - it is a dictatorship after all.

    IMO this is the action of some other government, with sophisticated technology and deep covert capability, doing this because it is in their best interest for Cuba and the USA to not have good relations. I'll leave the exercise of figuring out who those players could be to you.

    --
    Better known as 318230.
  7. Re:Remind me... by kilfarsnar · · Score: 3, Funny

    Yes, because "odumba" could have predicted something that would happen two years after relations with Cuba were re-opened and they would be using a "sonic device" the likes of which are unproven to exist. If Obama was actually that powerful, you really should be afraid of him like you're pretending to be.

    The US government has has sonic weapons since the 60's. Obama was a terrorist infiltrator, no other reason every single policy he implemented would be made to harm the US, even the libtards get things right on occasion if only by chance.

    LOL, where do you guys get this stuff?

    --
    "What the American public doesn't know is what makes them the American public." -Ray Zalinsky (Tommy Boy)
  8. Re:Well, that's done then by Jeremi · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We might want to determine who was behind the attack first, rather than simply assuming it was the Cuban government. For one thing, I can't imagine what motive the Cuban government would have for attacking American diplomats at a time when Cuba is trying to normalize relations with the USA. (I can imagine other parties wanting to sabotage that relationship, though)

    --


    I don't care if it's 90,000 hectares. That lake was not my doing.
  9. Same thing happened at the Canadian Embassy. by Dr+Caleb · · Score: 5, Informative

    Global Affairs Canada has confirmed at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba has been treated in hospital after suffering headaches and hearing loss.

    The information comes a day after the U.S. government said it believed some of its diplomats in Havana had been targeted with a covert sonic device that left them with severe hearing loss.

    The Canadian diplomat's family members were also affected and treated.

    "We are aware of unusual symptoms affecting Canadian and U.S. diplomatic personnel and their families in Havana. The government is actively working - including with U.S. and Cuban authorities - to ascertain the cause," said Brianne Maxwell, a Global Affairs Canada spokesperson.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/politic...

    --
    "History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
    1. Re:Same thing happened at the Canadian Embassy. by Dan+East · · Score: 4, Interesting

      In a comment earlier I threw out the idea that the hearing damage was caused by a countersurveillance device (such as one to disrupt laser microphones) that was employed incorrectly (used continuously when only meant for use for a few minutes at a time, wrong settings for the size of the room, etc). The fact that it happened to Canadians too might lend credence to that theory, as it is likely the US and Canada shares some degree of technology or services to protect diplomats in foreign countries. Still, this seems the kind of thing that the CIA would try and sweep under the rug if it was US tech that caused it, instead of playing dumb and letting it become mysterious international news.

      There's also the possibility that the Cubans employed such a device to protect the privacy of foreign diplomats, as a nice gesture, and it the technology was misused in some way to cause hearing damage.

      --
      Better known as 318230.
  10. Re:Well, that's done then by Minupla · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Cubans did

    Citation needed. The apparent attack happened in Cuba, it does not follow that it was perpetrated by the Cuban authorities, any more then an attack on a diplomat on US soil is assumed to be caused by the CIA. It might be, but at this point it appears to be he-said, she-said.

    Min

    --
    On the whole, I find that I prefer Slashdot posts to twitter ones because I don't get limited to 140 chars before
  11. Re:Remind me... by The+Grim+Reefer · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I don't know if you've noticed, but in Cuba they drive cars that are from the 40's and 50's. There is no way they have this advanced tech.

    I don't know if you noticed, but most of those cars retain little of what was originally there other than the frame and the original shape of the car. Most have engines that are from more modern (though not the latest tech) Russian, EU and Japanese manufacturers. Besides, the US had such weapons in the 1960's. So it's not like you would need a bleeding edge chip fab in order to do this.

  12. Maybe something like The Thing? by Lothsahn · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I wonder if it had any similarities to The Thing, a Soviet listening device that required no power...

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

    --
    -=Lothsahn=-
  13. Re:Well, that's done then by Strider- · · Score: 4, Informative

    using a focused sound/energy device to make someone deaf is totally the same-thing as listening to voice mails lol

    There is no indication that this was a deliberate attack. Spying on diplomats and missions is always part of the game of international relations, especially between nation-states that do not have the best relations. Whatever caused this could easily have been a side effect of a covert listening device or technique and an unintended consequence.

    During the cold war, the US Embassy in Moscow was given a wooden version of the Great Seal of the United States by local school children. What they didn't know is that it contained a covert listening device, which consisted of a passive resonant cavity. It worked by having the KGB transmit microwave energy from across the street, which would resonate in the bit of metal, and re-radiated. (more info here.

    A Canadian diplomat and family were also affected by the same thing, the chances of it being a deliberate attack is relatively low as Canada has had good relations with Cuba for pretty much all of its modern history.

    --
    ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
  14. Re:Remind me... by Kjella · · Score: 5, Insightful

    LOL, where do you guys get this stuff?

    For most of us there's a clear barrier between imagination and reality, dreams and being awake, fact and fiction. For some, that barrier is broken. You can see that there's "fashions" in lunacy, like after Roswell lots of people claimed to have been abducted by aliens. People read about being abducted by little grey men, then they get abducted by little grey men. A lot of the seed stories aren't created by loons though, like for example there's good indication that Roswell was about making money. And it worked extremely well, maybe they weren't exactly your average tourist but a lot of people came and spent a lot of money they'd never have otherwise.

    Which is why I'm pretty sure most of the political conspiracy theories are plants, because even if they're nuts at some point Obama had to spend time and resources disputing the lunacy. And once the ball is rolling everyone can add their own flavor. Father born in Kenya? Let's start a birther theory. Middle name Hussain? Let's start some theories that he's a Muslim... and a terrorist. Black man? Let's start some "Malcom X" theories for white people, some "Uncle Tom" theories for black people. Probably some Illuminati/NWO too, that works for all people in power. The conspiracy theorists tend to love it when you pile it on. And once you get a big enough ball rolling, you start setting off the "no smoke without fire" alarms even in more reasonable people.

    The Internet has been a great boon for conspiracy theorists, because even though it's made people with very narrow interests make contact with like-minded all over the world it's also enabled echo-chambers with their entirely own alt-reality. And a lot of people think doing "research" on say #pizzagate is reading all the drivel and watching all the YouTube videos about it. Then you have the semi-reputable sites like Breitbart feeding the fire by keeping an arm's length distance from the actual conspiracies while driving people to them. So plants are the spark, conspiracy nuts the kindling and alt-sites bring the firewood. And the rest of the world wonders why the fires are so hard to put out...

    --
    Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
  15. Re:Remind me... by Tuidjy · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The linked story is such crap. It has gotten us talking about sonic weapons, and Cuba's access to them, and on top of that, it suggest, without any sign of evidence that Russia may be the culprit.

    Here are a few things that I think are hard to argue against:
    1) It only takes some decent knowledge of biology and some 50s tech to create something that deliberately harms a person's hearing.
    2) Neither Russia nor Cuba has any interest in harming US or Canadian diplomats
    3) There are quite a few parties (Cuban immigrants, unfettered government agents, Cubans hating Americans) who may want to harm US diplomats, whether to destroy Cuban-US relations, or simply to take perceived revenge on Americans.
    4) There exist, and have existed for decades, listening devices which are technically passive, but get used through remote application of power. Think a resonating plane or chamber read through lasers, EM radiation, etc. For all I know, some may require inaudible (to humans) sonic waves to operate.

    So, as far as I am concerned, the three most likely possibilities are, in no particular order.
    0) There's nothing going on, this is all due to a parasite infection, an accident with a misused device belonging to the embassy, etc.
    1) Some asshole, working contrary to Cuban interests, deliberately harmed the diplomats, possibly with a low tech, hand made device.
    2) The Cubans or Russian fucked up, and harmed the diplomats while trying to spy on them

    But nasty Commies deliberately targeting diplomats? I can't see their angle. I'm not saying they would not do it, I am saying I cannot see how they would profit.

    --
    No good deed goes unpunished...