This is, to say the least, a very strange and unusual story. What in the world is going on? Here’s what we know.
The Timeline
The State Department first heard about the attacks in late 2016; they started within days of the presidential election. The initial reports included what the Associated Press called “unexplained losses of hearing.” Among the first people affected were U.S. intelligence agents. In March 2017, Canada’s Foreign Affairs Department heard reports of similar symptoms—“headaches, nosebleeds, dizziness, ringing in the ears,” The Star reports.
The AP reports that the U.S. government started an investigation into these strange incidents and concluded that the embassy workers’ hearing loss could have been caused by “an advanced device that operated outside the range of audible sound and had been deployed either inside or outside their residences.” Investigators also found, according to The Guardian, that the attacks were concentrated in three clusters, at the homes of U.S. diplomats and at hotels they frequented.
Americans working for the embassy in Cuba had started to come home for treatment or chose to leave their postings. In May, the U.S. State Department responded by asking two accredited diplomats at the Embassy of Cuba in the U.S. to leave the country.
In August, the story of the “sonic incidents,” as the State Department was calling them, became public. At the time, a spokesperson stressed that there was still no definitive answer about what was causing these symptoms. In the same month, another round of incidents was reported. By late September the State Department was considering closing the embassy, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with the Cuban ambassador. Soon after, the U.S. removed most of its employees from Havana and suspended visas for Cubans. Early in October, the U.S. had 15 more Cuban diplomats leave America.
