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Radiation radio frequency energy including microwaves has likely caused illness in U.S. diplomats in China and Cuba with neurological symptoms in the past four years, according to a report released on Saturday.
Why is this important: The report of the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine does not attribute responsibility for the alleged attacks, but it notes that there has been “significant research in Russia / USSR on the effects of pulsed waves rather that continues. [radiofrequency] exhibits ”and military personnel from“ Eurasian Communist countries ”were exposed to non-thermal radiation.
Driving the news: The State Department commissioned the report after members of the government and their families began to fall ill at the United States Embassy in Havana, Cuba, in late 2016 and the United States Consulate in Guangzhou, China, at the beginning of 2017.
- There have been reports of 40 State Department personnel showing symptoms such as ear pain, intense head pressure or vibration, dizziness, visual problems, and cognitive difficulties.
- “Many continue to suffer from these and other health problems,” the study’s authors noted in a statement.
- The Government of Canada has confirmed that 14 of its citizens have also fallen ill in the Cuban capital, in what has become the “Havana syndrome,” notes the Ottawa Citizen.
To note: The report, first obtained by NBC News, recommends that the State Department move quickly to establish plans and protocols for future investigations if necessary.
- “The biggest problem is preparing for new and unknown threats that could compromise the health and safety of US diplomats posted abroad,” the report said.
- “The next event may be even more dispersed in time and space, and even more difficult to recognize quickly.”
For memory: Russia has denied being behind the alleged attack and CIA Director Gina Haspel “did not conclude that the Kremlin was responsible,” but some Russian experts at the agency noted in New York Times that this fits “the long history of experimenting with technology in Moscow”.
- Mark Lenzi, a diplomatic security official who fell ill with the symptoms while working in Guangzhou, China, in 2018, filed a lawsuit against the State Department for discrimination on the basis of disability.
- “My government looked away when they found out my family and I were injured,” he told the NYT. “This report is just the beginning and when the American people know the full extent of this administration’s cover-up of radio frequency attacks in China in particular, they will be outraged.”
- The Office of the Special Counsel opened two State Department investigations into this matter.
What they say: The State Department said in an emailed statement: “We are pleased that this report is now released and that we can complete the data and analysis that may help us reach a possible conclusion on what is happening. happened.”
- Senator Jeanne Shaheen (DN.H.), a prominent member of the Senate committees on external relations and armed services, who led the bipartisan calls for the report to be released, said in a statement: “The health effects of these mysterious wounds have plagued Their illnesses and suffering are real and demand a response from Congress.
“US officials and their families – who have been targeted – have requested that Congress receive and consider this report, so I’m glad the State Department has heard our bipartisan call so we can get down to business.”
Read the report, via DocumentCloud:
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