A new US intelligence report supports the accident theory without being categorical.
By Adrian Jaulmes
Published 2/26/2023 at 10:13 PM, updated 2/26/2023 at 11:06 PM
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New updated US report claims Covid-19 is not the result of a Chinese bioweapons program. ATHIT PERAWONGMETHA / Portal
correspondent in Washington,
The US Department of Energy believes the Covid-19 pandemic was “most likely” caused by a laboratory leak, according to a classified National Intelligence Directorate report recently presented to the White House and senior members of Congress. That information, released by the Wall Street Journal on Sunday, if confirmed, would have been added to an earlier report from 2021 in which the Department of Energy at the time said it was quite uncertain about the origins of Covid.
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The ministry now joins the FBI, which concluded back in 2021 that the pandemic was likely the result of an accidental leak from a lab in Wuhan, China, but without being categorical.
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According to sources familiar with the new version of the report signed by Avril Haines, the Department of Energy would have new elements: “new information, a deeper examination of the academic work and consultations with ‘experts outside the government,'” according to a Wall Street official Journal quoted US Secret Service official.
Different analyses
However, the content of the report remains secret. American authorities declined to provide details of the new information and analysis that led to the change in position. The document also recalls that the various American intelligence agencies continue to have different opinions about the origin of the pandemic and are still trying to solve the mystery of the virus’ emergence.
However, the Department of Energy has significant scientific expertise and oversees a network of US National Laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research.
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The FBI also employs scientists and relies on the laboratories of the National Center for Bio-Legal Analysis in Fort Detrick, Maryland, where biological threats are analyzed. According to the report, while the Department of Energy and the FBI both say an accidental leak from the lab is highly likely, they came to these conclusions in different ways.
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Other American intelligence agencies, on the other hand, are less convinced. The National Intelligence Council, which conducts long-term strategic analysis, and four other agencies that officials have declined to identify still believe they have “low confidence” in the likelihood the virus arose through natural transmission from an infected animal, without however, considering this, it is certain that the laboratory escape hypothesis is the correct one.
The CIA and another unnamed agency remain undecided between the two theories.
Covid-19 not from a bioweapons program
But despite these differing analyses, the new updated report reiterates their consensus that Covid-19 is not the result of a Chinese bioweapons program.
Republican lawmakers in Congress, who have opened parliamentary inquiries into the origins of the pandemic, are pressing the Biden administration and intelligence agencies for more information. The lab leak thesis is being defended by some Republicans, who want to prove that testing coronaviruses in Chinese labs would be the result of American taxpayer-funded research.
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Responding to the new developments on Sunday, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said there was “no definitive answer” on the matter. “President Biden has repeatedly called on all components of our intelligence agency to expend the effort and resources necessary to answer this question,” Sullivan said on CNN’s State of the Union program. “As we receive more information, we will share it with Congress and the American people. But until now, the intelligence community has not provided a definitive answer to this question,” he added.
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