Acknowledgment
I wish to thank Aleida Yanes for her research, editing, and proof reading on this paper. Likewise, the research support and conceptualization by De Toro Technologies was indispensable. A recognition as well, for friends who collaborated on this paper and must remain anonymous.
Introduction:
A series of mysterious attacks on US diplomats from late 2016 until at least August 2017 have resulted in the downgrading of the diplomatic relationship between the United States government and the Castro regime. The diplomatic staff of the Embassy of the United States in Havana has been reduced to a skeleton crew, while the expulsion and/or solicited withdrawal of diplomats from the Cuban Embassy in Washington DC has had a similar result on the Cuban side.
The motives behind the mysterious attacks on the US diplomats have bewildered observers of Cuba. Why would the Castro regime either carry out these attacks or allow them to be carried out at the precise moment when the United States, under the Obama Administration, had carried out a practically unconditional opening and normalization of relations with the regime, and when the regime could still entertain the possibility of maintaining these good ties with the incoming Trump Administration?
The Attacks
What is known is that a series of attacks took place against US and Canadian diplomats in “clusters,” and then sporadically, from December 2016 to at least August 2017.[1] During and right after these periods, US diplomats, including the Resident Security Officer (RSO) reported symptoms ranging from nosebleeds and loss of hearing to dizziness, including “cognitive disruption.” Those affected reported, in some cases, hearing very distinct noises, described as “clicking sounds.”[2] That these attacks were targeted, and not random occurrences, is corroborated by very specific facts:
· The attacks took place at the specific residences, in either houses or hotels, of US diplomats as well as at the U.S. Embassy.
· That those affected suffered damage to the same area of the brain, known as the white matter area.
· That of the 24-people affected, a significant number have been reported to be members of the intelligence services of the United States government.[3]
· That the attacks tended to diminish when the diplomats moved a few feet away from the initial position.
The testimony of the medical experts who have attended the cases, either from the federal government or the University of Miami, leaves little doubt that the identified patterns of lesions and damages suffered by 24 diplomats (out of which 16 are considered serious) are the result of an action undertaken through as yet unspecified means.[4]
Reactions of the Castro Regime
The reactions by the Castro regime to the situation generated by the attacks has varied. Reports based on first-hand accounts of American diplomats and legislators who questioned Raul Castro about the attacks in private indicated that he expressed either complete ignorance or plausible deniability about the incidents.[5] Presumably, the Castro regime offered to carry out a complete investigation of the incidents.[6] Once news of the attacks began to appear in the US press, and demands from the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA) became public, the comments by Castro official and unofficial spokespersons changed to outright denial that the attacks had ever taken place, assertions that weapons such as those did not exist, and counter-accusations against the United States. The change in tone and content in the Castro regime’s response was initiated by Mariela Castro, daughter of Raul, regime-appointed facilitator for the LGBT community in Cuba and the leading unofficial spokesperson. She stated in an interview on Beirut-based Al Mayadeen channel, that the attacks seemed “something out of science fiction.” Without even contacting the victims, there were those who ventured to say that the symptoms were the result of ‘mass hysteria’ at the US Embassy;[7] a charge that was not repeated once someone in the US government leaked a recording of the actual sounds to the press.[8]
Another regime unofficial spokesman, historian Jesus Arboleya, a Cuban intelligence officer with a long track record of working against the United States and the Cuban American community[9] wrote in “The lie of the sonic attacks,”[10] that the attacks were actually the result of the side effects of US intelligence equipment on diplomats using them. Arboleya specified that the espionage device supposedly used was the LRAD 1000RX, but this claim is ludicrous, as the LRAD-RX is not, as Arboleya claims, used “for communications between the Central Intelligence Agency and its agents,” but actually a long-range directional speaker that ships use for repelling intruders or an approaching ship. Additionally, it is neither ultra or infra sonic, and works on regular audible frequencies.
It is simply scientifically impossible for the equipment described by Arboleya to have caused those symptoms reported by the diplomats.
The Smoking Gun
The symptoms, the locations, the purported duties carried out by the affected diplomatic personnel, including the Embassy’s Resident Security Officer (RSO), and the long standing pattern of harassment of American diplomats by Cuban State Security, which has included in the past the poisoning of family pets and the actual ramming of US diplomatic vehicles, (On car ramming and other actions against US diplomats see “Surviving a Nightmare Inside Castro’s Cuba,” Lippman, Walter H., Washington Post, 1 November 1996; on poisoning of family pets of diplomats see “Cuba Poisons US Diplomats’ Pets,” Ali, Anbreen, Newser, 11 April 2009) conclusively point to either participation or collaboration by the Castro Regime in these attacks. Additionally, it is to note that the fact that so many US diplomats allegedly involved in intelligence activities had been identified by the attackers, may indicate the existence of a mole, or informant, within the American intelligence services. Given previous penetration by Castro intelligence agents of the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the State Department this possibility cannot be discarded.
In a totalitarian country as tightly controlled as Cuba, where the movements of US diplomats are so closely monitored, who else but the Castro regime could have access to the knowledge of where these diplomats were staying, as well as the ability to mount a surveillance operation and secure locations for the mounting of said attacks?
The symptoms experienced by the diplomats, the similar part of the brain affected in many of the cases, and previous intelligence reports point to a range of weapons which could have been used to carry out these invisible attacks. Delving into these possibilities is useful for the analysis, as it could indicate the actor or actors involved, and the possible motivations behind their actions.
The Range of Possible Weapons
There exists a range of modern weapons of different types and categories, be they infrasonic, ultrasonic, sonic, electromagnetic or microwave, which could produce the symptoms and effects being reported by the affected diplomats, particularly that of cognitive disruption. Contrary to the assertions of Mariela Castro, the existence of these weapons, their use to bring about cognitive disruption in civilians, which is to say interruption or influence on individual thought processes, is a much documented and worrisome fact in informed circles around the world.
The annual Covert Harassment Conference, which brings together annually experts from different fields in order to assess the development and covert use of these weapons by both state and non-state actors, explains as one of its objectives:
“To challenge general ignorance, governments’ denial and mainstream media silence regarding the development and existence of the sophisticated spectrum of harassment methodologies and bio-electromagnetic technology (aka mind-control technology), capable of not only influencing the human body, behavior, emotions and cognitive processes, but also torturing and killing at the speed of light without leaving any evidence.”[11]
“The psychoacoustic effect of infrasonic, sonic and ultrasonic frequencies within non-lethal military warfare techniques,” a 2016 article by Cybersecurity analyst Ryan Littlefield, details a chart indicating which weaponized sound-sources can generate which “clusters of symptoms” in victims of these attacks. The weapons there described function based on two scientific conditions, or principles: one is resonance, the other is brainwave entrainment.
Resonance refers to the fact that “All objects have a property known as their resonant frequency, “the re-enforcement of vibrations of a receiving system due to similarity to the frequencies of the source (Pellegrino and Productions, 1996). It is because this property that is held within all matter, that we can apply sound as a means of resonance within the human body.”[12]
Brainwave entrainment refers to the weaponized use of certain frequencies to activate bands of electrical wave resonance within our brain with the purpose of inducing neurological states within the body.[13] Infrasound weapons are known to induce feelings of anxiety, fear, dizziness, sadness or terror on people subjected to them. Ultrasound weapons have also been known to cause similar symptoms when directed at human beings.[14]
Microwave weapons constitute another possibility. These are directed-energy weapons which consist of energy pulses between the range of 300 MHz and 300 GHz.[15] Some of these weapons have been known to cause incapacitating pain in individuals, as well as destroy incoming missiles and commercial-off-the-shelf electronic equipment.[16] As far back as 2004, intelligence reports have circulated indicating that “Russians (private personnel), Iranians, Chinese, and Cuban personnel are joining efforts, directed by the Cuban military, on the development of these (electromagnetic) weapons.[17] The report goes on to state that “Narrowaband” [High Power Microwave weapons] “emit at a single frequency or closely-cluttered frequencies at very high power. These (highly directional) pulses can be directed at a specific target.” It is curious to note that many of the victims reported that they heard the clicking or chirping sounds associated with the attacks, but when they walked a few steps, these sounds disappeared. This indicates the specific targeting and focus of the possible weapons.
The symptoms reported by the diplomats all correspond with what these weapons provoke. The unexplained losses of hearing, the headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, ringing in the ears, and cognitive disruption reported by both US and Canadian diplomats fall precisely into what this range of weapons can cause in those subjected to them.[18] The “ringing in the ear,” can be particularly symptomatic of something called The Frey Effect. The Frey Effect refers to the microwave auditory effect, which “consists of audible clicks induced by pulsed/modulated microwave frequencies.”[19] This could directly correspond to the “cricket noises” reported by many of the victims.[20] The clicks are generated directly inside the human head without the need of any receiving electronic device.[21] This points us in the direction of microwave weapons being the ones used for the attacks.
The prestigious scientific magazine IEEE Microwave Magazine, published by the main professional organization of engineers in the United States, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (known as the I triple E), published an article in its January-February 2018 edition, with the headline “Strange Reports of Weaponized Sound in Cuba” by James C. Lin that “suggests the strange symptoms could actually be caused by localized microwave radiation. Such weaponry could directly target individuals while remaining inaudible to others. So, has Cuba developed some kind of secret and deafening microwave gun?”[22]
Possible motives and allies
It is important to explore the possible range of weapons used because it indicates both possible motives and the presence of actors other than the Castro regime. Portions of a leaked FBI report would appear to indicate that a sonic weapon was not the type of instrument used in the attack.[23] This, the specific symptoms and the Frey Effect would seem to point in the direction of a microwave weapon having been used. The fact that the white matter area of the brain was the main area affected in most of the attacks[24] and the persistent symptom of “cognitive disruption” reported by victims of the attack could indicate motives.
First of all, what is white matter? Referred to as the “subway of the brain,” “at the beginning of the 21st century scientists generally accept the theory that distributed neural networks –widely scattered neurons or clusters of neurons that tend to fire in synchrony- underlie our conscious experiences. This theory has reinforced the idea that the connectivity provided by white matter occupies a central place in the elaboration of human behavior.”[25] White matter facilitates the decisions on personal conduct and ethics taken by individuals.
Cognitive disruption, or interruption of the cognitive processes of the brain, is caused when “…anxiety discharged into the parasympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system causes hypoperfusion of the brain, leading to impaired thinking. When the patient suffers from cognitive/perceptual disruption, he/she may experience genuine confusion because the brain is not working well” (Dynamic Psychotherapy).
Such a large-attack on this part of the brain on so many American diplomats indicates an effort to affect their thoughts, aimed at some sort of thought control and, if the Associated Press reports are to be believed, in some sort of intelligence-gathering activity as well.
The goals of such an attack would be, at minimum, to hinder the tasks of American diplomats or even more possibly, to confuse and compromise them in order to influence their decisions or make them sway in their loyalty.
Such a task, carried out for almost a year at such an extensive level with highly sophisticated weapons of one type or another denotes that only persons of power in Cuba could be responsible. No one else but either the Cuban state or some key actors within it could mobilize such resources, beginning with access to the identities of possible American intelligence officials and their places of residences. Similarly, the range of possible weapons used indicates the need for either the official state intelligence structure in Cuba, or a key actor within it be involved. This key actor would have to be one of extraordinary influence and significance with the hermetic state structure in Cuba, with vast command of resources and clearances. Very few people correspond to this description and it is highly improbable, given the real power hierarchy of the regime, that they would have acted without authorization from the supreme command.
Information leaked to Reuters, indicates that Alejandro Castro Espin, Raul Castro’s son who is also a colonel in the Ministry of the Interior and coordinator of Cuba’s intelligence services could have been involved in this operation. He led the secret negotiations between the Obama Administration and the Castro regime in Canada. Given his surname and key positions, he would have had either knowledge or control of government actions.
Alejandro Castro has visited Russia and signed intelligence and defense agreements with the Russian government on behalf of the Castro regime. Russia has had extensive development of microwave weapons, and what’s more, it has used them against American diplomats in the US embassy in Moscow in the early 60’s.[26]
Other possible state actors with technology to develop microwave weapons could be Iran and North Korea. Cuba and North Korea have extensive political and military ties, and the Castro regime has been directly involved in efforts to supply weapons to the North Korean regime in violation of international sanctions.[27] There is speculation that North Korea may have tested weapons such as these on American captive Otto Warmbier.[28]
It is important to emphasize that no foreign power or actor could operate in Cuba without the awareness of the security apparatus. One occasional attack could take place without detection, but attacks spanning several months and with sophisticated equipment must have had the knowledge and acquiesces of the Cuban government.
It may also be possible that the Cuban Regime has developed these microwave weapons or something similar on their own, with assistance from private Russian scientists, as well as possibly Iranian and North Korean engineers. Could it be that either Cuban-made microwave weapons, or those developed by North Korea are not as sophisticated as a Russian product, thereby generating damage and symptoms that alerted the US government to what should have been a covert thought control operation?
Notwithstanding the answer to this question, there are additional matters to be considered:
How is the security of the United States affected by the fact that weapons of this nature may be in possession of individuals with hostile ideological intentions? Moreover, if there exist people powerful enough within the Castro regime to launch this kind of operation without the authorization of Alejandro Castro or his father, what does that tell us about possible differences among factions within the regime? How can these factions threaten the security of the U.S. or of the State of Florida?
Conclusions and Recommendations
The attacks on US diplomats in Cuba mark a “before” and an “after” in US-Cuba relations. The medical evidence and the information available on those affected leave little doubt that attacks did take place. There is a specific range of weapons within reach of the Castro regime that could have been used for these attacks and that generated these very specific symptoms. Based on this, the following steps should be taken at several different levels by the United States:
First of all, the fact that the Castro regime has access to any or some of these weapons should not be ignored. In addition to this, in any scenario in which they were used, it reveals an extreme daring and an absence of an awareness of limits of those who hold power in Cuba now. Access to these weapons and their possible use constitute a potential threat to the security of the United States of America. This threat being greater because of the close proximity of Cuba to the United States.
Whether the decision to use these weapons was made at the highest levels of the regime or was made by people with power within the regime, the result is the same: what previously may have been considered to be a well-organized tyranny with a well ordered hierarchy, may in reality be fragmenting as a result of the absence of Fidel Castro, into different competing factions who have access to weapons of extreme concern for US national security.
The relationship of the Castro regime with various international terrorist groups is well documented.[29] Could these myriad terrorist factions have access, through sympathy or through commercial transactions, to these weapons from a cash-strapped regime with serious internal and external difficulties in the midst of an uncertain succession process? Additionally, could and has the Castro regime used these weapons against opponents of the regime in Cuba and Venezuela, and against opponents of the regime exiled in South Florida?
A new appraisal of the threats posed by the Castro regime or its heirs to the security of the United States and the state of Florida should be conducted and dealt with accordingly. The links between the Castro regime or factions within it, with rogue nations such as North Korea and Iran or with diverse terrorist organizations who present a constant threat to the United States, and the access of the regime or factions within it to the weapons described above constitute a key area of concern. Reinstating the Castro regime in the list of state sponsors of terrorism should be an ever-increasing possibility. At the very least, the state of Florida needs to implement additional training programs and security measures in order to account for these potentialities.
The possibility of Cuba degenerating into a failed state with factions contending for power and disposing of dangerous armament should be another key consideration. A more proactive approach to achieving a stable, free government in Cuba aligned with the United States should be pursued.
US diplomats should not be returned to Cuba until the investigation into these weapons and the acts committed is fully completed. Depending on results of further investigation and lack of clarity and assurance from Cuban authorities, the United States should be ready to close its Embassy in the island if necessary.
Given the above conditions, both federal and state of Florida employees who deal with the Castro regime at different levels should receive training on what is occurring within the Castro government and in Cuba in general, as well as what the weapons described in this paper can do and how to protect personnel or installations at home or abroad, from attacks such as these.
[1] “Attacks against U.S. Diplomats in Cuba: Response and Oversight.” Testimony of Senior Bureau Official Francisco L. Palmieri before the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. 9 January 2018.
[2] Erickson, Amanda. “All the theories about what’s happening to the diplomats in Cuba.” The Washington Post, 30 Sept. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/09/30/all-the-theories-about-whats-happening-to-the-diplomats-in-cuba/?utm_term=.8d5aec1e02be.
[3] WEISSENSTEIN, Michael, et al. “AP sources: US spies in Havana hit by bizarre health attacks.” AP News, 2 Oct. 2017, www.apnews.com/d0fa8db258bf4c5492428e448e953102.
[4] Dr. Charles Rosenfarb, Medical Director, Bureau of Medical Services, testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Attacks on US Diplomats in Cuba: Response and Oversight on Capitol Hill on January 9, 2018. Testimony available at https://youtu.be/sKLqEY6g5bs
[5] “Raul Castro has a surprising response to harmed U.S. diplomats in Cuba.” Los Angeles Times, 15 Sept. 2017, www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-cuba-sonic-attacks-20170915-story.html.
[6] Lee, Matthew , and Michael Weissenstein . “Hearing loss of US diplomats in Cuba is blamed on covert device.” AP News, www.bostonglobe.com/news/world/2017/08/10/hearing-loss-diplomats-cuba-blamed-covert-device/S7LY5bMpEWwsvYWAKlZ8vJ/story.html.
[7] Stone, Richard. “Stressful conditions, not ‘sonic weapon,’ sickened U.S diplomats, Cuba panel asserts.” Science Insider, 5 Dec. 2017, www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/12/stressful-conditions-not-sonic-weapon-sickened-us-diplomats-cuba-panel-asserts.
[8] Lederman, Josh, and Michael Weissenstein. “Dangerous sound? What Americans heard in Cuba attacks.” AP News, 13 Oct. 2017, www.apnews.com/88bb914f8b284088bce48e54f6736d84.
[9] “Miami Herald Ignores Abundant Spy Ties in Coverage of ‘Cuba Conference.’” Cuba Confidential, 16 Mar. 2014, cubaconfidential.wordpress.com/2014/03/16/miami-herald-ignores-abundant-spy-ties-in-coverage-of-cuba-conference/.
[10] Arboleya, Jesus. “The lie of the sonic attacks.” Progreso Weekly, 3 Oct. 2017, progresoweekly.us/lie-sonic-attacks/.
[11] “INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COVERT HARASSMENT OF CIVILIANS BERLIN, GERMANY.” Covert Harassment Conference, 2 Oct. 2015, www.covertharassmentconference.com/?et=1440246205.
[12] Littlefield, Ryan. “The psychoacoustic effect of infrasonic, sonic and ultrasonic frequencies within non-Lethal military warfare techniques.” Medium, 11 June 2016, littlefield.co/the-psychoacoustic-effect-of-infrasonic-sonic-and-ultrasonic-frequencies-within-non-lethal-cf05e1fd8673.
[13] Idem.
[14] Idem.
[15] “Directed-Energy weapon.” Wikipedia, Mar. 2013, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directed-energy_weapon?oldid=751983529.
[16] Idem.
[17] Cereijo, Manuel . “ELECTROMAGNETIC WEAPONS: CUBA AND IRAN.” Guaracabuya, 16 Jan. 2018, amigospais-guaracabuya.org/oagmc245.php.
[18] CAMPION-SMITH, Bruce. “Mysterious sonic attacks in Cuba target Canadian and U.S. diplomats.” The Star, 14 Sept. 2017, www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/09/14/sonic-attacks-in-cuba-target-canadian-and-us-diplomats.html.
[19] “Microwave auditory effect.” Cognopedia, www.cognopedia.com/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect.
[20] WHITEFIELD, Mimi. “Cuba takes to the web for ‘scientific exchange’ on acoustic attacks on U.S. diplomats.” Miami Herald, 15 Nov. 2017, www.miamiherald.com/news/nationworld/world/americas/cuba/article184826778.html
[21] “Microwave auditory effect.” Wikipedia, Aug. 2016, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microwave_auditory_effect.
[22] Hignet, Katherine. “Mass Hysteria Or Microwave Weapons—What’s Behind The ‘Sonic Attacks’ On U.S. Diplomats In Cuba?” Newsweek, 16 Dec. 2017, www.newsweek.com/mass-hysteria-microwave-weapons-sonic-attacks-cuba-747107.
[23] Gomez, Nora. “Tillerson to weigh in on acoustic events against American diplomats in Havana.” Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2018, www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article193587314.html.
[24] McAteer, Oliver. “Cuba ‘sonic weapon’ attacks may have completely altered victims’ brain, say officials.” Metro, 6 Dec. 2017, metro.co.uk/2017/12/06/cuba-sonic-weapon-attacks-may-completely-altered-victims-brain-say-officials-7137131/.
[25] Filley, Christopher M. “Why the White Brain Matters.” The Dana Foundation, 1 Jan. 2015, www.dana.org/Cerebrum/Default.aspx?id=39152.
[26] Brodeur, Paul. Currents of death: power lines, computer terminals, and the attempt to cover up their threat to your health. Simon and Schuster, 1989.
[27] Kenber, Billy. “North Korean Ship Seized in Panama Canal Carried Suspected Missile- System Components.” The Washington Post, 17 July 2013, www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-34911976.html?refid=easy_hf.
[28] Hanna, Jason, et al. “Doctors: Ex-North Korea detainee Otto Warmbier has severe brain injury.” CNN, 17 June 2017, www.cnn.com/2017/06/15/politics/otto-warmbier-north-korea/index.html.
[29] Gutierrez-Boronat, Orlando. “Cuba and The Terror Coalition: The Emergence of the Terrorist International.” Cubanet, 19 Sept. 2001, www.cubanet.org/htdocs/CNews/y01/sep01/19e2.htm.
