On Sunday, the US Energy Department said that the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have originated from an accidental lab leak in China.
Latest Finding
A report by The Wall Street Journal cited a classified intelligence report recently provided to members of the White House and key members of Congress; it highlighted the Energy Department’s shift from its previously undecided stance on the emergence of the virus, which was noted in a 2021 document by Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines’s office.
WATCH: If intel determines China covered up a lab leak that started Covid, @SenDanSullivan (R-Alaska) says Congress should hold public hearings.
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) February 26, 2023
"[China] is a country that has no problem coming out and lying. ... We need to make sure every country knows that." pic.twitter.com/37N3nOnd6V
The Energy Department’s new intelligence was gathered from its network of national laboratories, some of which carry out biological research.
Evidence Weak
Some officials who were briefed on the new intelligence said that the evidence was relatively weak and that the department’s conclusion was made with “low confidence,” suggesting that some officials remain divided over the origin of the virus. However, they refused to disclose what the new intelligence was.
Officials added that while the department shared the information with other agencies, none of them had made changes to their previous conclusions, all of which pointed to the likelihood of the virus being transferred from animals to humans naturally in the wild.
Q: Did COVID leak from a Chinese lab?
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) February 27, 2023
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan: “I can't confirm or deny” pic.twitter.com/HunpkrSqPd
Divisions in Intelligence Community
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan agreed that divisions have persisted within the community regarding the emergence of the virus.
“There is a variety of views in the intelligence community,” he told CNN on Sunday. “Some elements of the intelligence community have reached conclusions on one side, some on the other. A number of them have said they just don’t have enough information to be sure,” Sullivan said.
He added that President Joe Biden had ordered national laboratories to work towards determining the origins of the pandemic and that Washington was using “every tool” it had.
“But right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question,” he concluded.