The US Department of Energy continued to change its position the origin of the Covid19 pandemic and claims that the Coronavirus Spread likely through an accidental leak from the lab of Wuhanin China.
The information is contained in a classified intelligence report recently submitted to the White House and key members of Congress and seen by the Wall Street Journal.
By then, the Department of Energy commented Doubts about the origin of the virus. The new position appears in an update to a 2021 document from the office of Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Security guards stand at the entrance of the Wuhan Institute of Virology during a visit by a World Health Organization (WHO) team in February 2020 Photo: Thomas Peter/Portal
The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have come to different conclusions about the origin of the pandemic. The Department of Energy is now joining the FBI in saying the virus was likely spread by an accident at a Chinese lab.
Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence body, still think it was likely the result of natural transmission, and two are undecided.
A World Health Organization (WHO) it began an investigation in 2021 about the Origins of the new coronavirus, but without conclusions. WHO DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus vowed this month to do “everything possible” to get an “answer” on the origin of Covid19. He said he recently sent an official email to a senior Chinese government official to ask for Beijing’s cooperation again.
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The Department of Energy’s conclusion is relevant because the agency has significant scientific expertise and oversees a network of national US laboratories. But the department issued its verdict with “low confidence,” according to people who read the confidential report. The FBI, which had previously come to the same conclusion, has “moderate confidence” in that view.
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The FBI previously concluded with “moderate confidence” that the pandemic was likely the result of a lab leak in 2021, and continues to hold that view.
The new report highlights how different parts of the intelligence community have come to different conclusions about the origin of the pandemic. The Department of Energy is now joining the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in saying the virus was likely spread through an accident at a Chinese lab. Four other agencies, along with a national intelligence body, still think it was likely the result of natural transmission; two are undecided.
The US Secret Service consists of 18 agencies, including offices in the Departments of Energy, State and Treasury. Eight of them took part in the review of the origins of Covid along with the National Intelligence Council.
As the WHO traveled to China to investigate the origins of Covid19, Peter Ben Embarek said he was concerned about biosafety standards at a lab near the market where the first human cases were discovered. Photo by Ng Han Guan/AP Photo
2018 US State Department cables and internal Chinese documents show that there have been ongoing concerns about China’s biosecurity procedures, cited by proponents of the lab leak hypothesis. According to the 2021 US intelligence report, the Covid19 virus first circulated in Wuhan, China by November 2019.
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US officials declined to elaborate on the new information, which prompted the Department of Energy to change its position. They added that while the Department of Energy and the FBI say an unintentional leak from the lab is more likely, they came to those conclusions for different reasons.
Despite the differing analyses, the update reinforces the consensus that the pandemic is not the result of a Chinese biological weapons program, the sources said. A senior US intelligence official confirmed that the intelligence agencies conducted the update in the light of new information, further study of the academic literature and consultation with experts outside the government.
The update, which is less than five pages long, was not requested by Congress. Lawmakers, particularly House and Senate Republicans, have been conducting their own investigations and reaching out to the Biden administration and intelligence agencies for more information. Authorities did not say whether a nonconfidential version of the update will be presented.
A spokesman for the Department of Energy declined to discuss the details of the assessment. The FBI also declined to comment. China denies the virus may have leaked from any of its labs and suggests it originated outside the country. The Chinese government did not respond to requests for comment on whether there had been any changes to its assessment.
In May 2021, President Biden called on the country’s intelligence agencies to step up investigations into the origins of the pandemic and ordered the review to build on the work of US national laboratories and agencies. The October 2021 report said there was consensus that Covid19 was not the result of a Chinese biological weapons program. However, the debate over whether it was a lab leak or an animal was not settled, and it was suggested that more information was needed from the Chinese authorities. /AP, AFP and Dow Jones