“Imagine a CSI investigation — this famous TV program — where the investigators don’t have the murder weapon, don’t have the place, don’t have access to the victims. How the hell do you investigate that? It’s impossible!” Late 2016, Havana. “Dr. Rosenfarb, are you aware of any type of technology that would cause this?” “No, I’m not, sir.” American diplomats were complaining of crushing headaches, extreme fatigue. “Who would do this?” And, an intense sound. “Secretary Tillerson ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel.” The Cubans? They said they knew nothing about it. “Sporadic attacks continued until late April. But that sound is why this building is nearly empty at this important moment for Cuba. For the first time in 60 years, its leader will not be a Castro. “Two things we know for sure.” Here’s what the U.S. government has said about the sound: “People were hurt, and the Cuban government knows who did it. Whatever happened to these people happen as a result of some sophisticated technology that, quite frankly, is so sophisticated we don’t understand it. It leads you then …” In Washington, Senator Marco Rubio convened a hearing. “It was the early opinion of the security professionals who looked at it that it was likely a form of harassment.” “O.K. In late 2016, staff at the United States Embassy in Havana began complaining of strange noises, and among the descriptions that they complained of, high-pitched beam of sound or just intense pressure in one ear. There are 24 Americans, who during their time in Havana, have experienced symptoms that are consistent with what you would see in mild traumatic brain injury and/or concussion.” Doctors said that diplomats’ brain matter had actually changed. What started out as a mysterious nuisance — “We know it happened to 24 people” — — became a suspected instrument of attack. “Tillerson reacted as he would have reacted when he was an oil executive. He heard something happen in an oil rig. Get everybody out of there.” Secretary of State Rex Tillerson ordered his staff: “We are convinced these were targeted attacks. We don’t like our diplomats being targeted.” Depart your post, he said. Leave Cuba. And they did. Everyone from the people who discussed trade down to those who processed visas. The incident had become political. “This is entirely about the health, and the safety, and the well-being of Americans. We still have an investigation that’s underway. So I hope Cuba would focus instead on helping us with the investigation and be less concerned about claiming this is political.” [music] “So here the contrast, the contrast which is —” Carlos Alzugaray was a Cuban diplomat for decades. He’s a bit of an unofficial government spokesperson. “Why throw down the Embassy? The bad thing about it is that probably the guys who have been affected more are the regular Cubans, not the government.” By the time the diplomats left, the warming started by President Obama had undeniably chilled. The U.S. issued a travel advisory, and tourism dropped. On the streets of Havana, the idea that Cuba was involved in a sonic attack was met with skepticism. It wasn’t long after the incident became public that sound experts began downplaying the idea of a sonic attack. Sound can’t easily change brain matter, among other reasons. “You’ve got a long, long way to go before you even attribute this to sound. It’s not going to cause physical effects. If the sound goes through air before reaching you, it’s not going to cause that.” “It may have been a situation where people were drawn more closely together.” It wasn’t only the sound experts who struggled to explain what happened. “Infectious cause is what I would say.” Engineers also tried. “It could have just been a malfunctioning ultrasonic device, perhaps used for some other nefarious purpose.” And psychologists. “Well, these people were on an island. Fears can spread in a tight group. Things can get more intensified. Anything is possible.” A microwave expert. “If you direct a beam of microwave, the microwave would produce an acoustic wave.” This doctor said it could have just been a virus. ”An infection, of some type.” “So an ultrasonic weapon is not science fiction. I could build one. I could put it in the house of somebody I didn’t like, and I could annoy them. What its — really seems science-fiction is the idea that you could build an ultrasonic rifle that will shoot 100 meters and target somebody, and shoot through a wall and get just that one person.” Dr. Leighton is referring to this hotel, where some diplomats reported hearing the sound. Look up. It’s unlikely you could direct a weaponized sound wave across this street, 11 stories up through walls and windows, and hit individuals repeatedly without anyone noticing. The U.S. wouldn’t share any evidence of an attack with the Cubans. So they did their own investigation. For reference, 140 decibels is about the sound of a plane’s jet engine at takeoff. “You ask, what we think is that some people were ill, and that there was a psychogenic contagion. And other people started reporting that they were feeling ill. These are English-speaking communities that are relatively isolated from the Cuban population. They live among themselves. They exchange. And any kind of anxiety or stress —” Doctor Sosa is referring to mass hysteria, a psychological condition. There was no, quote unquote, attack. This theory is actually the current official Cuban standpoint. Today, the lights are on at the Embassy, but the doors remain locked. ”The administration’s reaction to all of this is so drastic, to make permanent the drawdown of the U.S. Embassy to ridiculously low, unnecessary levels, which has an element of spite to it.” Fulton Armstrong is a former C.I.A. analyst who covered Cuba. He made a career in searching for motives. “They were so desperate to make their case that it was sonic attacks. This is serious stuff. You’re accusing them of doing line-of-sight attacks with a weapon that no one knows exists. So, once the political people got stuck in their own internal contradictions, it was almost impossible, then, to get a real serious discussion of what was going on. The administration had already decided it was going to use it, the legitimate symptoms of U.S. government officials, for a political maneuver that looks like a lot of other political things that this administration has done. And that is, at any cost, undo what the predecessor did.” “There are a number of people in the administration, and some in Congress, who didn’t want to see normalization of relations. So, for those who didn’t like the policy changes by President Obama’s administration, it’s worked out pretty well.” “You have the State Department work, practically all the major executive jobs have not been covered. It’s the perfect situation for someone like Marco Rubio to hijack a policy and push.” “And so it leads you to conclude that the Cuban government either did this, or they know who did it. And they can’t say, because …” “Marco Rubio got his way. Sometimes, in U.S. politics, the strongest voice is the voice that predominates even when the bureaucracy isn’t with you.” “Whoever did this — did this …” “The bureaucracy has allowed the political voice to come in and dictate a lot, including analysis of the so-called sonic attacks issue.” “And then it leads you down the road of motivation. It makes you start to think, who would do this? Who would do this? Someone who doesn’t like our presence there, and someone who wants there to be this sort of friction between the U.S. So who would be motivated to create friction? Or who would not be in favor of an increased U.S. presence in Cuba? We don’t want to be in this position. We have no choice. We cannot send Americans into Foreign Service and their relatives to a country where their safety cannot be guaranteed.” Senator Rubio, a son of Cuban exiles, has been a longtime critic of the Castro government. He’s always been an opponent of reestablishing ties with Cuba. Now, I’m not under any fantasy that Cuba is going to transition from one day to the next and turn into Canada, but there has to be progress in that direction. And there’s never been a step in that direction to the extent that they’ve taken these steps, they’ve been largely cosmetic. And they’ve retreated from some of those positions. So who would be motivated to create friction? Or who would not be in favor of an increased U.S. presence? Maybe it was a third country. Which third country would want to disrupt the U.S. presence there? And the logical conclusion is Russia and Vladimir Putin.” “Has the State Department raised attacks against U.S. personnel in Cuba with the Russian government?” “That’s a very good question. I think it would be better to address that issue in a classified setting.” “Why would the fact or lack of existence of a communication to the Russian government be something that we can’t discuss in public?” “To give you the full reply would be required, and I believe that would be more appropriate in the classified setting.” “Has Raul Castro ever said to any U.S. diplomat, ‘I didn’t do it, but it’s possible that some of my guys did it without me knowing about it?’” “I do not believe that communication has ever occurred.” “You don’t want to discuss something that is not in a proper setting, or is that just you’re — you’ve just never heard?” “That is my recollection that I’ve never heard that.” “O.K. “The meeting is adjourned.” The U.S. has still not given an official explanation of the sound or its intent, if any. But its effect has been to play a big part in the current disengagement with Cuba. This is happening at a pivotal moment. Raul Castro is stepping down, and Miguel Díaz-Canel will likely be president. “The notion that we have just a skeletal staff at the Embassy — fewer people than we had during the time of isolation, is just unconscionable.” “Well, the transition is not — I mean, it’s a one-party transition. I mean the outcome’s not in doubt. You know, you would love to see a new generation of leadership that begins to move in the right direction, and I think those moves would be reciprocated by American policy makers. But it’s not going to happen because of a unilateral American opening. That was the flawed thinking behind an opening towards China, and China today is no more democratic and no more free than it was. And that was not the experience in the aftermath of the Obama opening. It did not lead to any changes in governance or on the economic condition of Cubans in the big picture.” “After more than five very difficult decades, the relationship between our governments will not be transformed overnight.” “What are we doing? We’re pulling out of the game. They would prefer to buy American rice and American chicken. They would prefer to have Americans come down and do travel in Cuba. They like us. But if we’re going to treat them in the way that we’re treating them, they will make their own future without us. They say they’ve been making their future for the last 60 years without us, and they’re prepared to do it, perhaps with some hyperbole, for another 60 years.” [music]