According to a classified US report based on new intelligence and recently sent to the White House and key members of Congress, the virus that causes COVID-19 most likely leaked from a Chinese laboratory.
The shocking revelation by the US Energy Department comes more than a year after the FBI concluded that the disease was caused by a lab accident in China, which has killed more than 6.8 million people worldwide, including 1.1 million in the US.
According to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the Energy Department’s own finding on Sunday, February 26, the FBI’s decision was made with “moderate confidence” and remains the bureau’s opinion.
However, the judgment is considered significant because the Energy Department, which oversees the American nuclear weapons program, operates a network of national labs and has a wealth of scientific expertise, according to the Journal.
Both agencies (the Energy Department and the FBI) reached their conclusions for different reasons, with sources declining to elaborate on the new intelligence cited by the Energy Department.
In response to the Journal’s report, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stated that “there are a variety of views in the intelligence community” and that the origin of COVID-19 was still being investigated.
“Here’s what I can tell you: President Biden has repeatedly directed every element of our intelligence community to devote effort and resources to resolving this question,” Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
“And if we gain any further insight or information, we will share it with Congress, and we will share it with the American people. However, the intelligence community has yet to provide a definitive answer to this question.”
The report is said to be less than five pages long, and it’s unclear whether an unclassified version will be released.
Last year, US Senate Republicans issued an interim report concluding that the virus most likely originated in a Chinese laboratory and that “the hypothesis of a natural zoonotic origin no longer deserves the benefit of the doubt or the presumption of accuracy.”
