According to a media report, the US Department of Energy has changed its assessment of the origin of the corona virus and is now assuming possible laboratory failure. This emerges from a classified intelligence report that was recently presented to the White House and key members of Congress, the Wall Street Journal reported today, citing unnamed sources.
The Department of Energy now agrees with the FBI’s assessment that the virus was likely spread through a fault in a Chinese laboratory. However, the ministry assumes this with only a “low” degree of certainty.
US officials disagree
US President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said today he could neither confirm nor deny the report. “At this time, there is no definitive intelligence answer to this question,” Sullivan said of the virus’s origin. “Some parts of the intelligence community have come to conclusions on the one hand, others have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure.”
Some US officials continue to believe the virus was likely naturally transmitted, others are undecided. The Department of Energy’s conclusion is based on new evidence, according to the report. However, it was not clear what the results were.
The ministry was previously undecided in its assessment, according to the Wall Street Journal. Like other US departments, the ministry has its own Office of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, which is part of the US intelligence community. These trace the origin of the coronavirus.