Rubio to Hold Hearing on Sonic Attacks in Cuba

Source: Washington Free Beacon | January 8, 2018 | Susan Crabtree

Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) on Tuesday will hold the first open public hearing on the mysterious sonic attacks perpetrated against U.S. diplomats and other personnel in Cuba.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing was originally scheduled for November 15 but was indefinitely postponed without explanation.

Three State Department officials will testify: Francisco Palmieri, the acting assistant secretary for the western hemisphere; Todd Brown, diplomatic security assistant director for international programs; and Charles Rosenfarb, medical director of the Bureau of Medical Services.

The State Department in August first disclosed that the attacks on U.S. personnel occurred in Havana, most of which they said took place in the fall of 2016 with some attacks coming as late as August of this year. Since then, the State Department has said the number of victims has risen sharply to at least 24, but has been unable to ascertain what device caused the attack or who was behind it.

U.S. government sources have told the Washington Free Beacon that some type of sonic device left some of the diplomats, as well as other U.S. personnel, with hearing loss, headaches, dizziness, sleeplessness, and other cognitive problems.

Rubio on Sunday took to Twitter to push back against comments from outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake (R., Ariz.) a longtime advocate of normalizing ties with Cuba, saying he has seen no evidence that American diplomats who suffered ailments were “attacked.”

“It’s a documented FACT that 24 U.S. government officials and spouses were victims of some sort of sophisticated attack with stationed in Havana,” Rubio tweeted Sunday.

“Any U.S. official briefed on matter knows full well that while method of attack still in question, that attacks & injuries occurred isn’t,” he added in another tweet.

…….

Tagged: ,

Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)
Viewing 1 post (of 1 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic.