Director of National Intelligence Investigates U.S.-Funded Overseas Labs

WASHINGTON – Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, is looking into over 120 overseas biological laboratories that have been financially supported by U.S. taxpayers for many years. This initiative is part of a drive to halt potentially hazardous virus research, following an executive order from President Trump concerning “gain of function” studies.

In a statement to the Post, Gabbard emphasized that her team will pinpoint the locations of these labs, examine the pathogens they house, and understand the nature of their research to curb dangerous gain-of-function studies that might jeopardize public health both domestically and globally.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how research on risky pathogens in biolabs can profoundly disrupt the world,” Gabbard noted.

She also expressed concerns about misleading statements from politicians, including some in the Biden administration, who have supposedly downplayed the presence of U.S.-supported biolabs and pressured those aiming to reveal the details.

With Gabbard at the helm, the U.S. intelligence community will scrutinize inquiries from all labs funded by U.S. resources, whether involved in gain-of-function research that might enhance virus transmissibility or those working on protective measures against dangerous pathogens.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence officials, these foreign labs are scattered across more than 30 countries. Some received funding through a Pentagon initiative designed to eliminate weapons of mass destruction following the Cold War.

The labs currently under scrutiny are situated in Ukraine and may be “at risk of being compromised” due to Russia’s ongoing military actions, officials added. This research is part of the Department of Defense’s Collaborative Threat Reduction program, aimed at bolstering U.S. biosecurity through the study of pathogens to avert future outbreaks.

Critics argue that loose oversight of research funding—often coursing through U.S. institutions to various awardees—hinders transparency about whether potentially perilous experiments are taking place.

ODNI officials have mentioned that ongoing clinical trials at these biolabs raise numerous ethical, financial, and security concerns.

The Biden administration has denied the existence of any U.S.-owned or operated “chemical or biological laboratories in Ukraine,” dismissing such claims as propaganda originating from China and Russia. This clarification occurred after statements made by Parliamentary Secretary Victoria Nuland regarding biological research facilities in Ukraine.

The Trump administration’s swift denial was characterized by ODNI officials as part of an “information resiliency” strategy aimed at influencing the national narrative and countering adverse foreign perspectives while downplaying U.S. connections to the labs.

Last May, President Trump signed an executive order that prohibited federal funding for gain-of-function research in countries like China and Iran lacking adequate oversight, arguing that the outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 demonstrated how a dangerous pathogen could unintentionally escape and have catastrophic consequences.

The Pentagon’s oversight has previously struggled to determine the exact number of potential pandemic pathogens being investigated abroad, especially given the over $1.4 billion spent on such research from 2014 to 2023.

Research involving bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, funded by the U.S., was found to have violated grant conditions—resulting in a virus that was 10,000 times more infectious—though the National Institutes of Health has denied that this work caused the COVID-19 pandemic.

Previously, officials like Dr. Anthony Fauci and others in public health have backed gain-of-function research on pathogens that pose a potential pandemic threat, provided that the advantages outweigh the dangers.

Fauci illustrated hypothetical concerns regarding such experiments in a 2012 paper, wondering about the implications if an untrained researcher were to mismanage information or materials from well-conducted studies.

In response to the contemporary oversight measures, Army Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that the Trump administration is addressing lapses by the Biden administration, accusing the previous leadership of misusing taxpayer dollars for risky research and masking the truth from the public.

Hegseth added that the declassification of findings presented a chance to rectify these oversights, asserting that under Trump and Gabbard’s leadership, efforts were being made to reveal and amend historical errors while ensuring accountability for those involved in this research.