The US State Department confirmed last Friday that "acoustic" or "sonic" attacks have taken place on 19 government personal working at the US embassy in Havana, Cuba. These attacks have led to serious medical symptoms such as mild brain loss and permanent hearing loss. State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert has confirmed three more attacks in the past month which involve sonic harassment of US officials. The attacks are harmful in that they are not noticed at the immediate time in which they take place. Because of this, two Cuban diplomats were ordered to leave the United States. The attacks have appeared to end however the motivation behind them still lies in the unknown. A union labor group for the diplomats have strongly urged the State Department to care for those affected. The FBI and other US government authorities are investigating the situation out of Cuba.
The article comes from a news story presented by Laura Koran, Elise Labott, and Patrick Oppmann at CNN. The article does not seem to be an option article with no obvious points to bias. The article was published Sunday, September 3rd in the early morning soon after details of the attack emerged. I had no prior knowledge to the incidents and was surprised to hear that such an important story has not been covered more widely. This allows me to read the article with an open mind and be open to any information received on the subject. The article is aimed at the average American in that the language is easy to understand and the point of the article is to inform and not to persuade. The article is trying to convey the situation out of Cuba and only give the facts that are known at this time. The article is important in that this is an attack on our own country's diplomats and may call to a hostile presence in Cuba right now. It may dictate how further economic and political resolutions will play out between two nations who are just now speaking to each other again after a long period of no diplomacy between the two nations. While these personal attacks have not happened in the same way throughout US History, there are instances of violence played out on US officials by members of another country such as in the North Korean cyber attack on Sony back in 2014.
This entire situation should be monitored with security by both the US Government and by US citizens who need to be educated on the situation so that they can be helpful without causing hysteria.
Link to original article: http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/01/politics/foreign-service-cuba-sonic-attacks/index.html
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