Family members who were hit by the mysterious attacks on diplomatic personnel in Cuba last year might not receive comprehensive medical care, a senior State Department official acknowledged Tuesday.
“There may be some limitation to family members,” Dr. Charles Rosenfarb, the medical director at the State Department’s Bureau of Medical Services, told a Senate panel. “Typically what happens is, employees who are injured in the course of duty would be covered by the workers’ compensation law, and family members would not be.”
Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., told Rosenfarb to report back on how Congress should authorize additional care to the affected individuals. “I think you want to send a global message to our men and women abroad that if they are attacked, they will be taken care of,” he said.
The uncertainty about medical care for family members is just the latest question pertaining to a series of attacks on U.S. diplomats stationed in Havana. Twenty-four people were harmed between late 2016 and August of 2017, prompting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to cut the U.S. presence in the country to emergency levels. State Department officials still cannot explain the nature of the attacks, while lawmakers are frustrated at the government response.
“Throughout this process, we have not been able to identify who the perpetrator of the attack was and what the means of the attack was,” Francisco Palmieri, the acting assistant secretary for the Bureau of Western Affairs, told a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee chairman Marco Rubio, R-Fla.
The incidents took place at hotels and residences where U.S. officials were staying while deployed to Havana. The symptoms include hearing and memory loss, as well as other difficulties associated with “mild traumatic brain injury,” as Rosenfarb put it. U.S. investigators haven’t been able to determine who perpetrated the attacks or how they could have been carried out.
Victims gave various descriptions of an unpleasant sound that resulted in the symptoms. State Department officials told the Senate panel that they aren’t aware of any technology that could have caused such harm. But, they succeeded in recording the sound that the victims described and providing the audio to investigators.
“The descriptions of the sensations have varied quite a bit,” Rosenfarb said. “Some feel more like a vibration, some report a loud sound. The descriptions have varied, though.”
It’s still not clear how much treatment the victims will need, he added. “One thing that hasn’t become clear and is still not certain is what if any of their long term consequences would be,” Rosenfarb said. “Someone could suffer a serious injury but may improve completely.”
