The Biden-Harris Administration (2021- ) has indicated a desire to re-populate (in-person or remotely) the United States Consulate operation within the United States Embassy in Havana, Republic of Cuba.
There remains a possibility that visa process operations, including required in-person interviews, could be conducted remotely from rooms outfitted with cameras and body temperature measurement equipment to confirm veracity of statements while maintaining statutory requirements.
If individuals subject to United States jurisdiction are returned to the Republic of Cuba for the purpose of processing visas, there remain unresolved health issues having impacted employees of the United States Government injured beginning in 2016 which resulted in the departure of employees- and ordered departures in October 2017 of fifteen Republic of Cuba nationals working at the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba, including within the Consulate of the Republic of Cuba, in Washington DC. Currently, there are approximately seventeen individuals subject to United States jurisdiction working at the Embassy of the United States in Havana.
The other issue for the Biden-Harris Administration to resolve is if the United States Department of State wants to return up to fifteen individuals to Havana, then the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MINREX) of the Republic of Cuba may want to return up to fifteen individuals to the Embassy of the Republic of Cuba in Washington.
If the Republic of Cuba were to re-authorize visas for up to fifteen individuals subject to United States jurisdiction to return to Havana, a further issue is whether MINREX would place travel restrictions upon the individuals; and whether the United States Department of State would place travel restrictions upon the individuals in Washington, specifically commercial officers whose portfolio includes travel throughout the United States.
United States Department of State
Washington DC
3 October 2017
Rex W. Tillerson, Secretary of State: On October 3, the Department of State informed the Government of Cuba that it was ordering the departure of 15 of its officials from its embassy in Washington, D.C. The decision was made due to Cuba’s failure to take appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in accordance with its obligations under the Vienna Convention. This order will ensure equity in our respective diplomatic operations. On September 29, the Department ordered the departure of non-emergency personnel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Until the Government of Cuba can ensure the safety of our diplomats in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel to minimize the number of diplomats at risk of exposure to harm. We continue to maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba, and will continue to cooperate with Cuba as we pursue the investigation into these attacks.
United States Department of State
Washington DC
3 October 2017
Special Briefing- Via Teleconference
State Department Official
MODERATOR: Good morning. And thanks, everyone, for joining us for our Cuba call. We’re joined again this week by [State Department Official]. But I’d like to remind you that this call is on background. It will be attributable to a State Department official. This call will also be embargoed until 11 a.m. Eastern Time today. I know you’re all anxious to get started, so with that, I’ll turn it over to [State Department Official].
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Thank you, [Moderator]. Good morning. This morning, the Department of State informed the Government of Cuba it was ordering the departure of 15 of its officials from its embassy in Washington, D.C. This move does not signal a change of policy or determination of responsibility for the attacks on U.S. Government personnel in Cuba. We are maintaining diplomatic relations with Havana. The decision on expulsions was taken due to Cuba’s inability to protect our diplomats in Havana, as well as to ensure equity in the impact on our respective operations. As you know, on September 29th, the department ordered the departure of nonemergency personnel assigned to the U.S. embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Investigations into the attacks are ongoing, as investigators have been unable to determine who or what is causing these attacks. Regarding the attacks, there are now 22 persons medically confirmed to have experienced health effects due to the attacks on diplomatic personnel in Havana. This information was confirmed yesterday after the decision-making process for the expulsions was well underway. The Cuban Government has told us it will continue its investigation into these attacks, and we will continue to cooperate that – with them in this effort. We will also continue our own investigations into these attacks. With that, I’m ready to take your questions. Thank you.
QUESTION: Yes. Thank you very much. Just a couple of quick questions. What would it take in terms of Cuban action to return the U.S. diplomats to Cuba and to allow Cubans back – these 15 to return to the U.S.? Do you have an estimate of the percentage that these 15 make up of the Cuban diplomatic staff in the U.S.? And how much time are you giving the Cubans to leave?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: We’re giving the Cubans seven days for their personnel to depart. Are we doing more than one question? Should I ask the last one or the first one?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: With regard to what it will take to restore operations, we have underscored repeatedly to the Cuban Government its responsibility for the safety, well-being, security, and protection of our diplomatic staff under the Vienna Convention in Havana. We will need full assurances from the Cuban Government that these attacks will not continue before we can even contemplate returning personnel.
QUESTION: Hey. Thanks for doing this. Two quick ones: One, can you say what the specific diplomatic action that you’re taking are? Are you PNGing these people? Are you asking the Cubans to pull them, and if they don’t’ pull them then you will PNG them? How precisely is that going to work? And then just second, on this thing, you’re talking about needing full assurances from the Cuban Government. That presupposes that you think the Cuban Government has the ability to put a stop to this if they wanted to. Can you explain – can you square how you’re saying you don’t know who or what is causing this, yet you believe it is within Cuba’s ability to stop it? Thank you.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: No. Our position on assurances does not presume Cuban culpability. What it does is require the Cuban Government to be able to fulfill its treaty obligations for the safety, well-being, and protection of foreign diplomats in their country. And until they can give that assurance, our personnel, we have judged, are not safe and secure in the country. We are expelling the 15 Cubans today. They are not being declared persona non grata. And we expect them to leave within seven days.
QUESTION: Good morning, guys. The latest attack was still in August – can you confirm that? Are all the U.S. diplomats who are required to leave Havana and Cuba, have they left? And just a bit on – follow up on what Josh was asking. If these attacks just stop and it’s six months, a year down the road, there’s no determination, would then the United States consider increasing its diplomatic presence in Cuba?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Rich, I’m not going to talk about hypothetical conditions or timeframes. It just – it’s just not productive at this point. The first question was, again?
QUESTION: (Inaudible) saying are medically affected. Was the latest attack still in August? And are – the U.S. diplomats leaving Cuba, are they all gone?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yeah. Yeah. So we are in the process of the ordered departure of our staff. It will take us a few days to get everyone out. But we expect everyone to be out by the end of the week. We have given the Cuban Government seven days to depart.
QUESTION: Can you clarify if the 22nd person affected – you mentioned was in August or September. And is the 22 just American government personnel, or does this include any dependents or family members, and have they been affected?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The 22nd person was – yeah – was a person who suffered an attack in January of this year and who was subsequently re-evaluated based on symptoms and conditions the person was experiencing.
QUESTION: Hi. Thank you. So if you don’t know what caused it, who did it, and the symptoms are different among victims, how do you know it’s an attack? Why are you calling it an attack? And to go back to a previous question someone had asked, asked what percentage this represents of the staff at the Cuban Embassy. Thank you.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: The attacks reflect an ongoing series of incidents that are affecting our diplomatic personnel, and they have persisted over a long period of time now that has made it very clear that our people are suffering and are suffering these attacks from some unknown means and method. And the decision to call them attacks reflects that there’s been a consistent pattern of our people being affected, and there’s no other conclusion that we could draw. I think the issue with regard to the number of Cubans departing is that it ensures that we have equitable staffing levels to allow our embassies to operate. I’m not going to get into the specifics of what the specific percentage is. I don’t know that we have a specific figure.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks for doing this. Like many other reporters here, I’ve been getting phone calls from people, including physicians, speculating on what the causes were. A couple of physicians have suggested there might be some degree of psychosomatic mass hysteria going on. I was wondering if you’ve ruled that out.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Again, I’m not a medical professional. I know that the medical teams are looking at all of the symptoms and are considering all of the possibilities. But they have been able to confirm the symptoms that we’ve previously described are occurring and our people are demonstrating physical symptoms.
QUESTION: Yeah. Hi. Do you have specific names of Cubans who you want – who you’re expelling? Or are you leaving that decision up to the Cuban Government on how they should downsize?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I spoke with the Cuban ambassador this morning at 9 o’clock. We provided a diplomatic note that did provide a list of Cubans. He had some questions as to how this might affect their embassy operations, but yes, we did give them a list.
QUESTION: Is it true that the Cubans, Bruno Rodriguez, told Secretary of State Tillerson the other day that the Cubans are aware that this was a rogue operation by people inside Cuba, inside its own government services?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I’m not going to comment on diplomatic conversations. I would refer you to the Secretary’s readout that we issued.
QUESTION: Hi, this is actually Lucia Leal. I wanted to see if you – if the possibility of closing the U.S. embassy in Cuba is out of the table now. And these announcements have come in waves. Why not announce this on Friday, last Friday? Thank you.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I want to – I want to reiterate what I said in my earlier statement. This does not signal a change of policy or a determination of responsibility for the attacks. We are maintaining diplomatic relations with Cuba at this time.
QUESTION: Hi. After this measure, the Cuban embassy will probably also cut its consular services and the family reunification program and visas in Havana are suspended, so family reunification would be severely impacted. What’s the message to Cuban Americans that will not be able to see their families because of this crisis?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think we are evaluating the impact our reduction of staff will have on those issues, but the Secretary has made clear first and foremost is the safety, security, and well-being of our diplomatic personnel overseas. There will be emergency services that will remain available.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks for doing this. Just a quick follow-up on a previous question. Why didn’t you announce your decision last Friday when you announced the recall of your diplomats? Because don’t you feel that this will be taken as an escalation by Cuba if there are more steps and more steps? Thank you.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I think this reflects a deliberate process to work through the issues related to this incident. I think first and foremost the Secretary wanted to focus on the safety and well-being of our personnel. Once having made that decision, we then moved on to consider ensuring that there would be an equitable impact in our two embassies’ ability to operate.
QUESTION: Thank you. Hi, [State Department Official]. You said you gave a list of your 15 names to the Cubans. Could you describe generically who these people are? Are these political officers, security officers, anything like that? And you said you didn’t want to give a percentage, but if the U.S. is bringing back, what, half of its staff, was this half of the Cuban staff?
And finally, just the same question that everyone has asked is it’s hard to square expelling Cubans with not blaming the Cubans for these attacks. Thanks.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: So again, the – we provided a list of personnel across the Cuban embassy to reflect the fact that we are only leaving emergency personnel in Havana to ensure that both embassy – there’s an equitable impact on both embassies’ operations. I think the percentages are very – roughly very close to each other. And then finally, again, we’re not assigning culpability. This is to ensure that there’s an equitable impact on our embassies’ ability to operate and to underscore to the Cubans that they must take more action to protect our people on the ground if we’re going to have a full range of embassy operations in both capitals.
QUESTION: Hi, I’m just going to try again that other people have tried – you all said in the Russia tit-for-tat this specific number of embassy personnel and consulate personnel that would be allowed by both countries. Is it that Cuba is now going to be down to 27 people in the United States just like the United States is down to 27 people in Havana? Thanks.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: First, the Russia situation is very distinct from this situation. This is related to the safety and security and well-being of our embassy. We made a decision to move to ordered departure to ensure that only emergency personnel in Havana would remain, and I’m just not going to comment on the exact numbers that will remain in either post.
QUESTION: Hey, thanks very much for holding the call. I just want to jump back to something you said in response to Tracy’s question. You said the Cubans must take more action. What specifically are you asking them to do if you don’t still know what the cause of these incidents are? Thank you.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Again, I think the conversations focus on the Cuban Government’s responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of diplomatic personnel that they host in their country. It’s not for us to outline a set of criteria for them to ensure that environment. But we are making it clear that the safety and well-being of our people is being affected by these health attacks and we can no longer expose them to the environment down there.
QUESTION: Hi, thank you. My question is whether you have any indications this is happening in any other embassies either in the region or around the world, or if you’re taking steps to ensure that doesn’t happen.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: Yeah. I’m [State Department Official]. I am not aware of any other incidents in our region that have been reported to us. I can’t comment globally.
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: I just don’t know.
QUESTION: Hi, good morning. Can you tell us whether any posts from Cuban diplomats besides Washington and the United States are being affected by this move? And just quickly, Scott Hamilton, the head of the U.S. mission to Cuba, in a farewell message said he and his family are leaving this week from Cuba. Who has the State Department placed in charge of the U.S. mission to Cuba?
STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL: At this point, Scott Hamilton remains the charge. I don’t have any announcement on whether he’s departing or who would be replacing him.
United States Department of State
Washington DC
29 September 2017
Special Briefing- Via Teleconference
Senior State Department Official
MODERATOR: All right. Good morning, everyone. Thanks so much for joining us for this background call on Cuba. We are pleased today to have [Senior State Department Official One] join us. He will be known as Senior State Department Official One, and then [Senior State Department Official Two] joins us as well. He’s Senior State Department Official Two.
A reminder: This call is embargoed until 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time today. And with that, I’ll let the briefers start. [Senior State Department Official One]?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah, good morning. On September 29th, the Department ordered the departure of nonemergency personnel assigned to the U.S. embassy in Havana, as well as all family members. Over the past several months, at least 21 U.S. embassy employees have been targeted in specific attacks. The health, safety, and well-being of our embassy community are our greatest concerns. Investigations into the attacks are ongoing, as investigators have been unable to determine who or what is causing these attacks.
Until the Government of Cuba can assure the safety of U.S. Government personnel in Cuba, our embassy will be reduced to emergency personnel so as to minimize the number of U.S. Government personnel at risk of exposure. The remaining personnel will carry out core diplomatic and consular functions, including providing emergency assistance to U.S. citizens in Cuba. Routine visa operations are suspended indefinitely. Short-term travel by U.S. Government officials to Cuba will also be limited to those involved with the ongoing investigation or who have a need to travel related to the U.S. national security or crucial embassy operations. The United States will not send official delegations to Cuba or conduct bilateral meetings in Cuba for the time being. Meetings may continue in the United States.
The Department will issue a Travel Warning for U.S. citizens not to travel to Cuba, and informing them of our decision to draw down our diplomatic staff. The Travel Warning will note that over the past several months, numerous U.S. embassy employees have been targeted in specific attacks. These employees have suffered significant injuries as a consequence of these attacks. Affected individuals have exhibited a range of physical symptoms, including ear complaints, hearing loss, dizziness, tinnitus, balance problems, visual complaints, headache, fatigue, cognitive issues, and difficulty sleeping.
The governments of the United States and Cuba have not yet identified the responsible party, but the Government of Cuba is responsible for taking all appropriate steps to prevent attacks on our diplomatic personnel in Cuba. Because our personnel’s safety is at risk and we are unable to identify the source of the attacks, we believe that U.S. citizens may also be at risk and warn them not to travel to Cuba. The Travel Warning will advise U.S. travelers the reduction of staffing at the embassy would impact its ability to offer many routine services to U.S. citizens. Emergency services will still be provided.
I want to stress that the decision to reduce our diplomatic presence in Havana was made to ensure the safety of our personnel. We maintain diplomatic relations with Cuba and our work in Cuba continues to be guided by the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States. We are continuing our investigation into the attacks and the Cuba – the Cuban Government has told us they will continue their efforts as well. We acknowledge the efforts the Cuban Government has made to investigate and its cooperation in facilitating the U.S. investigation, but we have members of our embassy community who have suffered physical harm due to these ongoing attacks in Havana, most recently in late August. The Cuban Government is obligated under the Vienna Convention to take all appropriate steps to protect our diplomats in Cuba. With that, I’m happy to answer your questions.
QUESTION: Thanks very much for doing this call. Two questions. First of all, I know you said that you do not know who is responsible. Have you ruled out that possibly a third country could be involved? Specifically, the Russians have had some experience with these type of incidents over the – over history and have maintained a very close relationship with Cuba, so I know that there’s been some suspicion. But are you ruling out a third country? And then, secondly, you said that Americans could be at risk. It doesn’t seem as if the ambassador or maybe like the very top people in the embassy were targeted. So why do you think that Americans are at risk, and what would you say to – obviously, you need to protect your personnel, but what would you say to those who are concerned that by warning Americans not to go there, this is more of a political – politicization of it?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: We have not ruled out the possibility of a third country as a part of the investigation, but that investigation continues and will continue irrespective of the ordered departure. We will continue to investigate this – these attacks and to get to the bottom of them. With regard to the threat to American citizens, the – there’s no more important mission for the State Department or a U.S. embassy overseas than to protect and advise Americans on potential threats to their safety, health, and well-being. The fact that some of these attacks have occurred in hotels where American citizens could be at and that we have no way of advising American citizens on how they could mitigate such attacks, we felt we must warn them on not to travel to Cuba until we understand and know more about the source and means and ways to mitigate these attacks that are occurring.
QUESTION: When you say that the Cuban Government is cooperating, can you give us any more information about whether or not their offer to have the FBI go has been responded to, whether the FBI is on the ground in Havana? Who is investigating this for the U.S. Government in Havana and how far along has the investigation come? What – how would you describe the status of the investigation?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: I would describe the cooperation that the Cuban Government has given to our efforts to understand what is happening in this – these attacks to have been ongoing, and we expect it to continue. With respect to questions related to the investigation, I would refer you to the Department of Justice.
QUESTION: Good morning. Was the Secretary seriously considering closing the embassy? And are there any reports of non-government employees affected? Any sense that the attackers know specifically who they are attacking? Are they targeting senior employees or intelligence personnel over others?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: The first question – the evaluation to go to ordered departure took a look at our entire embassy operation and we are moving to an ordered departure that retains emergency staff so that we can provide basic services to American citizens and fulfill our diplomatic mission. With respect to whether there are any reports to American citizens, we are not aware of any American citizens; reports have been made to us, the Department of State. But nonetheless, given the significance of these attacks and the fact that they’ve occurred in hotels, we believe without any means to mitigate them we must warn American citizens not to travel to Cuba.
QUESTION: Yeah, hi. I’m wondering if you can give us a sense of how big the ordered departure is. Is it more than half of the embassy? And then is the U.S. also expelling any Cubans, or is there any follow-up on that? Is there – are you satisfied with the Cuban assurances that they haven’t carried out these attacks?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: The ordered departure will result in more than half of the embassy footprint being reduced. The – I’m sorry, could you repeat the second part of that question?
QUESTION: Are you asking Cubans to send anybody home?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: I have nothing to report on that – on that issue at this time.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks for doing this call. My question is you pointed out that these attacks appeared to have stopped in August. Do you see that in some way as a success that after you have raised concerns and shown that you have knowledge of what’s going on that these attacks appeared to have stopped? And can you explain why you use the word “targeted” in describing these attacks? You haven’t really said who was targeted, but why do you think that this is, in fact, intentional, and who has been targeted?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: First, I don’t believe I said the attacks have stopped. I believe I said that the last reported attacks were in August. I think because of our concern for the safety and well-being of our staff, that is why we’re going to ordered departure. We don’t know the means, the methods, or how these attacks are being carried out, and so I could not characterize them as having stopped in August.
Separately, targeted in the sense – only in the sense that 21 of our diplomats have suffered from these different attacks, and it does appear that U.S. embassy personnel are most at risk. But we cannot rule out, given the nature of these attacks, that the American public traveling in Cuba might not also be at risk as well.
QUESTION: Hey, thanks very much for holding the call. Previously we’ve referred to what’s going on in Cuba as “incidents,” and now you’re using the term “attacks.” I’m wondering why the change in terminology. And among the many injuries that you had listed you didn’t mention traumatic brain injury, which the American Foreign Service Union has mentioned. So are you denying that TBI is one of the symptoms that American diplomats have had? Thank you.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: The Secretary of State has said very clearly that these are health attacks and they are affecting the health and safety and well-being of our staff. I’ve listed out the physical symptoms that have been present – presented. I don’t think it’s in my competence to describe a medical diagnosis or specific syndromes or conditions.
QUESTION: Thanks for holding the call. Can you talk a little bit more about the meeting that Secretary Tillerson had with his Cuban counterpart earlier this week? Did the Secretary tell him that this would be coming? Did the Cuban foreign minister try to convince the Secretary otherwise? Did he try to guarantee the safety of American diplomats? Were you not satisfied with those conversations?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: I’d refer you both to our readout of the conversation and the Cuban readout of those conversations, which I think actually captured both sides’ conversation.
QUESTION: Hi. Thanks for doing this. Say, so you mentioned this happened in hotels. I’m wondering if anyone other than diplomats has been affected, like any other guests that you’re aware of and maybe some of the diplomats who have been living in the hotels, if that’s possible. If you could give us some idea of whether it’s only diplomats in hotels and if they’ve been living there, and if any Cuban staff at the embassy have been injured. Thank you.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: The staff who were affected at hotels were temporary duty staff at the embassy. I will let my colleague answer as to whether we have any staff resident at the hotel. I do think there are times when people are arriving and leaving that they may be out of living quarters, that they might be in the hotel, so I don’t want to say definitively people don’t live there, because there’s transition periods. But there have been attacks at the hotel. They have been – they have involved our U.S. personnel, and that’s what I know.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I would just add we’re not aware of any hotel staff or other individuals who have been attacked or suffered these systems beyond the U.S. Government personnel at the hotel. And in terms of our Cuban staff at the embassy, we’re not aware of any incidents involving them or attacks involving them. The victims that we’re aware of are the 21 U.S. Government personnel.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks for doing this. Can you tell us when and how the Cuban authorities were informed of your decision, and even if you say that you maintain relation with Cuba, don’t you feel that there could be consequences given they say they will respond to that decision while withdrawing some personnel from Cuban embassy in the States? Thank you?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: We have repeatedly throughout this process had conversations with the Cuban Government at different levels, both in Havana and in Washington, and communicated our concerns to them. I want to clarify perhaps this characterization on my part. The accurate readout is the readout we issued of the meeting. The Cuban – I refer you to the Cuban statement for their characterization of the meeting, which reflects their views and may not – which we may not necessarily agree with in total. But we have – we do have areas of disagreement with the statement.
MODERATOR: Okay. [Senior State Department Official One], you have to go with —
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Yeah, I do.
MODERATOR: Okay. So [Senior State Department Official One] needs to run. Our [Senior State Department Official Two] will take over. [Senior State Department Official One], thank you so much. I know you have a lot of calls and a lot of work to do today.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL ONE: Yep, thank you.
QUESTION: Hey guys, thanks for doing this. Maybe you can clarify the – what you think the Cuban Government’s role or not role or have you ruled out the idea that – in other words, do you know definitively that this is a Cuban Government operation? Do you have reason to suspect that it’s not a Cuban Government operation? That would help us explain why you’re not kicking out Cuban Government officials in the United States and you’re not taking more sort of punitive actions against the Cuban Government.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Yeah, no, no, thanks. As [Senior State Department Official One] mentioned, the investigation continues, but at this moment we don’t have definitive answers on the source or cause of the attacks. And so I really can’t speculate on engagement or not by Cubans or others parties. The investigation’s ongoing and we will see where the facts lead us in terms of cause or source.
QUESTION: Thanks for doing this. If American diplomats have been at risk, why aren’t you removing everyone?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: There was a careful analysis of both the risk and the estimate of what would be needed to reduce that risk, and one of the measures that was considered prudent was to considerably resist – reduce the number of people present, thereby reducing the exposure – individuals who could be subject to these attacks. And so this was seen as a major step towards addressing some of our vulnerabilities and reducing our exposure.
QUESTION: Hey, good morning. Thanks for hosting this call. You say that you’re going to be suspending routine visa operations at the embassy in Havana. How many of those procedures would you typically be carrying out in a month? I’m just trying to get a sense of how many – how many people, how many Cubans, I guess, this affects. And is there anything more you’re doing on the U.S. side besides the warning to limit U.S. citizen travel to Cuba?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: I mean, the travel warning is to advise Americans on the risk if they travel to Cuba, and that’s what we’re putting out at this time. We can get you the numbers on a monthly basis in terms of the number of visas that were issued at post. I don’t have that with me right here today.
QUESTION: Thanks for taking my question. I just want to protest why this call isn’t on the record considering there’s no State Department on-camera briefing today. I do want to ask what measures on the ground in Cuba the State Department is taking besides the withdrawal of staffers from the embassy. Is there more security? Are they being placed in different residences? What other measures are being taken?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Yeah, no, we don’t discuss our security postures or security measures.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks for doing the call. I wanted to ask you, is there any more information that you can provide on what is – is this a device? What is the technology that you guys are researching that could produce some of this? Also, I was hoping you could provide a little bit more information on what jobs or what position will be staying in Havana. I know non-emergency will be leaving, so what – what are the roles that will be staying and how will those people be protected?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: As I mentioned, we continue to investigate the attacks in Havana. At this stage, we still do not have definitive answers on source or cause of the attacks. I don’t want to get into speculating about types of technology or research or get into the details of our investigation at this point, so can’t go into that details.
QUESTION: Hi, thanks. Just following up on that, there’s obviously been a lot of speculation about the sonic device or acoustic device. Is that – and some audio experts have been brought in in the public to sort of address the plausibility of that. Do investigators still believe that that would be a plausible device related to these illnesses?
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: As I mentioned, the investigation continues and we don’t have any definitive conclusions regarding cause, source, or any kind of technologies that might be engaged or might not have been used.
QUESTION: Hi. I’m wondering what kind of visas you’ll still be processing in Havana and how Cubans will be able to seek visas for the U.S. generally.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: (Inaudible) is make available – and we’re looking at the possibility of people being able to apply for visas at embassies or consulates outside of Cuba in other countries. But we haven’t actually made definitive arrangements yet. We’re continuing to look at that. But all of the kind of regular visas or ordinary visas would not be issued through Havana.
QUESTION: Hi, thank you. I know you don’t want to speculate, but I’m just wondering your change in terminology from “incidents” to “attacks” in a day’s time. Does that rule out, then, that this was something related to surveillance equipment, which would be an – having unintentional consequences of hurting these staffers? And also, the people who are left in Cuba, are they not at risk or are they at risk? Thanks.
SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TWO: Yeah, no, in terms of technology, again, I would say the investigation’s not reached definitive conclusions on any, again, source, cause, type of technology that may or may not have been employed. So I’m not going to comment or speculate on what’s been ruled out or ruled in. I think the investigators are looking at the whole range of possibilities. The purpose of the ordered departure is to reduce the numbers of Americans who are vulnerable to exposure from these possible – from further attacks or possible future attacks. The individuals at post – it does not mean that they are not risk, but by reducing the overall numbers of people, we have substantially reduced the number of people at risk and therefore reduced the exposure of the U.S. Government personnel.
