THE CIA now believes the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated from a Wuhan lab after years of denial under Biden’s administration.
In a bombshell declassified assessment released Saturday, the agency pointed the finger at China but admitted it had “low confidence” in its conclusion, citing incomplete and inconclusive evidence.
ReutersCovid most likely leaked from a Wuhan lab, the CIA has said[/caption]
APShi Zhengli – famous for having traced the SARS virus to a bat cave – works with other researchers in a lab at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan[/caption]
AFPThe P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan in China’s central Hubei province in 2020[/caption]
The report, based on fresh analyses of existing intelligence rather than new discoveries, was completed at the request of the Biden administration and former CIA Director William Burns.
The Biden administration and then-COVID czar Anthony Fauci had repeatedly dismissed the lab-leak theory as a conspiracy, insisting the virus likely jumped naturally from animals to humans.
But mounting pressure from scientists and intelligence officials has chipped away at that narrative.
The move to declassify the findings was ordered by President Donald Trump’s pick for CIA director, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in just days ago.
Ratcliffe has long championed the lab-leak theory, previously calling it “the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.”
He also accused the Biden administration of obstructing investigations into COVID’s origins, calling it a failure of leadership.
Ratcliffe said: “One of the things that I’ve talked about a lot is addressing the threat from China on a number of fronts, and that goes back to why a million Americans died and why the Central Intelligence Agency has been sitting on the sidelines for five years in not making an assessment about the origins of COVID.
“That´s a day-one thing for me. I’ve been on record as you know in saying I think our intelligence, our science, and our common sense all really dictate that the origins of COVID was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
While the CIA acknowledged both the lab-leak and natural origin scenarios remain “plausible”, it found the lab theory more likely, citing intelligence on the spread of the virus, its scientific properties, and conditions inside Chinese virology labs.
But the agency’s low confidence in its conclusion highlights significant gaps in evidence, a result of what it called a lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities.
The report is unlikely to settle the fierce global debate over COVID’s origins.
Scientists remain divided, with many believing the virus likely jumped from bats to humans via an intermediate host, such as raccoon dogs or civet cats, at a Wuhan market.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, hailed the CIA’s conclusion as vindication for lab-leak advocates.
“Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world,” Cotton said in a statement.
But Beijing was quick to dismiss the findings, saying they’re unhelpful and motivated by politics.
“We firmly oppose the politicisation and stigmatisation of the source of the virus, and once again call on everyone to respect science and stay away from conspiracy theories,” embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said in a statement.
While the origin of the virus remains unknown, scientists think the most likely hypothesis is that it circulated in bats, like many coronaviruses, before infecting another species, probably racoon dogs, civet cats or bamboo rats.
This isn’t the first time a U.S. agency has leaned toward the lab-leak theory.
In 2023, the Energy Department also assessed a lab origin as the most likely scenario, though it, too, expressed low confidence.
Similarly, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly backed the theory.
The CIA, however, has been cautious, stating it “will continue to evaluate any new information” that could shift its assessment.
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