Members of the U.S. intelligence community believed the coronavirus could have originated from a lab leak in China, according to sources inside the FBI and other government officials familiar with the Biden administration's inner workings. They say they were prevented from sharing their opinions and research with intelligence agencies. Initiatives during the pandemic.
For the first few months after the coronavirus arrived in the United States, the view within the Biden administration was that the coronavirus originated organically in Wuhan, China, and most likely jumped from infected animals to humans. was the mainstream. They said this could be due to the country's poorly regulated and widespread wildlife trade. This view was opposed by a much smaller group within the intelligence community who believed that an intentional or accidental lab leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology was likely the cause of the outbreak.
Now new facts have come to light Wall Street Journal report Some officials who believed in the possibility of a coronavirus lab leak were reportedly blocked by the Biden administration from sharing their views with the president and other intelligence leaders. It is being
Early in Joe Biden's presidency, he ordered the U.S. intelligence community to produce a report on the latest analysis of the origins of the coronavirus. The report comes as China blocks access to the Wuhan laboratory for US officials, preventing them from properly studying the origins of the virus.
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On February 3, 2021, members of the World Health Organization (WHO) team investigating the origins of the coronavirus visited the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province. A security guard stands guard. (Héctor Retamal/AFP via Getty Images)
At the time, the FBI was the only government agency to conclude that the lab leak origin theory was the most likely.
But Jason Bannan, the FBI senior scientist tasked with leading the agency's investigation into the origins of the coronavirus, said neither he nor his agency officials made the assessment clear at the president's August 2021 briefing. I wasn't asked to share. The White House's National Intelligence Council sought to share the intelligence community's position on natural and man-made sources of COVID-19.
“We are asked that the FBI be present at the briefing because they are the only government agency that has assessed a likely laboratory origin and are the only government agency that has expressed the highest level of confidence in the analysis of the origins of the pandemic.” I expected that,” Bannan said. Wall Street Journal. “I think it's surprising that the White House didn't ask.”
In addition, three scientists at the National Center for Medical Information, a division of the Defense Intelligence Agency, also shared the results of a study concluding that the coronavirus originated in a lab leak, according to people familiar with the matter. He says he was blocked from doing so. Ultimately, a Defense Intelligence Agency Inspector General report was created to investigate whether the three scientists' assessments were concealed.
Coronavirus Molecule, March 24, 2020.
An ODNI spokesperson declined to comment on the report, which has not yet been released.
Fauci denies trying to suppress theories about the origin of the coronavirus lab leak
Three scientists at the National Center for Medical Information Science, John Hardham, Robert Cutlip and Jean-Paul Chretien, were conducting dangerous “gain-of-function” research by Chinese scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He claimed to have found evidence that this was the case. The trio then informed their counterparts, including someone from the FBI on Bannan's team, about their findings. However, in July 2021, the three scientists were told by their superiors to stop continuing to share their research with people at the FBI, stating that the content was “off the table.” The Wall Street Journal reported that.
Virologist Shi Zhengli (left) works with colleagues in the P4 laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in Wuhan, central China's Hubei province, on Thursday, February 23, 2017. (Special Feature China/Barcroft Studio/Future Publishing)
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In response to claims in the Wall Street Journal report, a spokesperson for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence said that the intelligence community's overall assessment of the origins of COVID-19 “considered input from the community at large on two key points. It contains opinions.” The hypothesis regarding the origins of the pandemic is consistent with all of the intelligence community's analytical standards, including objectivity. ”
The spokesperson added that efforts are being made to ensure that both of these perspectives are included in the intelligence assessment, in line with the “standard process” for typical coordination of National Intelligence Council assessments.
