US health agency joins investigation into ‘sonic attacks’ in Cuba and China
The unexplained health incidents, which began last year, have injured US diplomats and their family members
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have joined the investigation into the sonic incidents that have injured American diplomats and have confounded US officials and scientists since first discovered last year in Cuba.
Kenneth Merten, a former ambassador and now an acting principal deputy assistant secretary of state, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday that the CDC has joined a task force created by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that is investigating the unexplained health incidents.
Another US diplomat is struck by mysterious illness in Cuba
“I don’t know if they have plans to travel yet, but their involvement in this is relatively recent,” Merten said. “But there is a possibility that they could become be more involved.”
The addition of the CDC reflects the continuing trouble the United States is having trying to determine the cause of the incidents that have left more than 25 Americans and US personnel experiencing headaches, hearing loss and other mysterious ailments in Cuba and China.
The bizarre incidents first made public last year helped upend two years of thawing relations between the United States and Cuba and raised new speculation whether Cuba was bringing back cold war tactics.
Referring to the incidents as “attacks,” the United States has not specifically accused Cuba, but holds them responsible for not keeping American diplomats safe.