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deminks

(11,014 posts)
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 08:14 AM Sep 2018

U.S. officials suspect Russia in mystery 'attacks' on diplomats in Cuba, China

Source: NBC News

Intelligence agencies investigating mysterious "attacks" that led to brain injuries in U.S. personnel in Cuba and China consider Russia to be the main suspect, three U.S. officials and two others briefed on the investigation tell NBC News.

The suspicion that Russia is likely behind the alleged attacks is backed up by evidence from communications intercepts, known in the spy world as signals intelligence, amassed during a lengthy and ongoing investigation involving the FBI, the CIA and other U.S. agencies. The officials declined to elaborate on the nature of the intelligence.

The evidence is not yet conclusive enough, however, for the U.S. to formally assign blame to Moscow for incidents that started in late 2016 and have continued in 2018, causing a major rupture in U.S.-Cuba relations.

Since last year, the U.S. military has been working to reverse-engineer the weapon or weapons used to harm the diplomats, according to Trump administration officials, congressional aides and others briefed on the investigation, including by testing various devices on animals. As part of that effort, the U.S. has turned to the Air Force and its directed energy research program at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, where the military has giant lasers and advanced laboratories to test high-power electromagnetic weapons, including microwaves.

Although the U.S. believes sophisticated microwaves or another type of electromagnetic weapon were likely used on the U.S. government workers, they are also exploring the possibility that one or more additional technologies were also used, possibly in conjunction with microwaves, officials and others involved in the government's investigation say.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latin-america/u-s-officials-suspect-russia-mystery-attacks-diplomats-cuba-china-n908141



The orange menace has all but cut off relations again with Cuba, per Pootey's instruction no doubt, and so we have diminished ilntelligence gathering ability.
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U.S. officials suspect Russia in mystery 'attacks' on diplomats in Cuba, China (Original Post) deminks Sep 2018 OP
K&R demmiblue Sep 2018 #1
They did this before in the Soviet era nuxvomica Sep 2018 #2
I suspected microwaves previously.... Adrahil Sep 2018 #3
People who work on radar systems are often stereotyped as "twitchy" and off-beat/off-kilter... haele Sep 2018 #4
This message was self-deleted by its author Equinox Moon Sep 2018 #5

nuxvomica

(12,429 posts)
2. They did this before in the Soviet era
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 09:19 AM
Sep 2018
Beams of microwaves from Soviet sources aimed at the US embassy building in Moscow were detected since 1953, increasing in intensity in 1975.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3509929/
 

Adrahil

(13,340 posts)
3. I suspected microwaves previously....
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 11:36 AM
Sep 2018

The ability of microwaves to make people think they are hearing sounds is well known. As someone who has worked around microwave systems (radars) for a good deal of my career, we are trained to notice of the effects of being exposed to strong microwaves.

Microwaves of sufficiently intensity to cause brain damage cannot be accidental in this case.

haele

(12,659 posts)
4. People who work on radar systems are often stereotyped as "twitchy" and off-beat/off-kilter...
Tue Sep 11, 2018, 01:11 PM
Sep 2018

Could also be from working on 440 electrical systems, as many of the electrical systems engineers who worked the big switchboards were also considered a bit strange.

As a pagan, I experienced my most active "magical" times while I was a shipboard radar systems technician in the Navy. There always seem to be an almost tingling presence of voices and sounds following me, even when I was off the ship or worksites.

I don't think there's any brain damage, but I'm certainly experiencing increasing hearing loss, which is annoying as I'm trying to teach my grand-daughters music. (Of course, I used to play viola and bassoon in jr. HS/HS, so sitting in front of the brass section in band/orchestra might have had a part in that hearing loss, too)

Haele

Response to deminks (Original post)

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