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The CIA now believes the virus is responsible for the The covid-19 pandemic it most likely originated in a lab, according to an assessment that points the finger at China, although it admits the spy agency has “low confidence” in its conclusion.
The disclosure is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report released Saturday was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns. He was declassified and released Saturday by order of President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the agency, John Ratcliffe, who was sworn in Thursday as director.
The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of the evidence makes a laboratory origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency’s assessment gives a low degree of confidence to that conclusion, suggesting that the evidence is lacking, inconclusive or contradictory.
“I had the opportunity on my first day to make public an assessment that actually happened in the Biden administration. So it can’t be accused of being political,” Ratcliffe told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures.” He said the CIA “has assessed that the most likely cause of this pandemic that has caused so much devastation around the world was due to an incident related to the laboratory in Wuhan. And so we will continue to investigate that going forward.” “
Previous reports on the origin of COVID-19 are separated whether the coronavirus emerged from a Chinese laboratory, perhaps by mistake, or whether it emerged naturally. The new assessment is unlikely to settle the debate. In fact, intelligence officials say it may never be solved, due to a lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities.
The CIA “continues to assess that the research-related scenarios for the natural origin of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible,” the agency wrote in a statement about its new assessment.
Rather than new evidence, the conclusion was based on new intelligence analysis about the spread of the virus, its scientific properties and the work and conditions of virology laboratories in China.
Lawmakers have pressed America’s spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus, which has led to lockdowns, economic turmoil and millions of deaths. It’s a question with significant domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the legacy of the pandemic.
Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, told “Fox News Sunday” that it was important now to “make China pay for unleashing this plague on the world.” He mentioned imposing tariffs or passing legislation that would repeal China’s permanent most-favored-nation status.
Chinese authorities have dismissed the speculation about the origins of COVID as useless and politically motivated. On Saturday, a spokesman for China’s US embassy said the CIA report lacked credibility.
“We strongly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the source of the virus and once again call on everyone to respect science and stay away from conspiracy theories,” embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said in an emailed statement to The Associated Press. .
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, presumably raccoon dogcivet cats or bamboo rats. In turn, the infection spread to people who handled or slaughtered those animals at a market in Wuhan, where the first Human cases appeared in late November 2019.
However, some official investigations have raised the question of whether the virus escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan. Two years ago, a report from the Department of Energy concluded that a laboratory leak was the most likely origin, although this report also expressed low confidence in finding.
That same year, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said his agency believed in the virus “Most likely” spread after escaping from a lab.
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, has said he also favors the lab leak scenario.
“The laboratory leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in 2023.
The CIA said it would continue to evaluate any new information that could change its assessment.
