According to the ODNI report, both a natural and laboratory origin of the virus remain plausible scenarios. Most US intelligence agencies agree that the virus was not genetically engineered or “laboratory-adapted.”
The origins of the pandemic have sparked contentious debates in the United States, with the lab-leak theory being vehemently rejected by China.
The declassified report was released after Congress passed a bill in March, requiring US intelligence to disclose what it knew about the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) within 90 days.
The 10-page report states, “The Central Intelligence Agency and another agency remain unable to determine the precise origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, as both (natural and lab) hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reporting.”
Among the US intelligence agencies, four believe that the virus was transmitted from animals to humans, while two agencies—the Energy Department and the FBI—continue to support the theory of a lab leak.
The report confirms that all US intelligence agencies agree that COVID-19 was not developed as a biological weapon. It acknowledges that the WIV and Chinese army collaborated on coronavirus research for public health purposes but did not work on infections that could plausibly lead to COVID-19.
However, the report mentions that scientists at the WIV have conducted research involving the engineering of “chimeras,” or combinations of coronaviruses, using reverse genetic cloning techniques that could potentially conceal intentional modifications.
The report also highlights that some researchers at the WIV may not have followed adequate biosafety measures before the pandemic. Nevertheless, US intelligence does not have information about a specific biosafety incident at the Wuhan lab that would have caused a COVID-19 outbreak.
Former US Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, who served under President Donald Trump, criticized the Biden administration, accusing it of “continued obfuscation” and asserting that the lab-leak theory is the only one supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.
Supporters of the lab-leak theory have pointed out that the WIV is located just 40 minutes away from the Huanan wet market, where the initial cluster of COVID-19 infections was reported in late 2019.
In 2021, a joint investigation by China and the World Health Organization deemed the lab-leak theory “extremely unlikely,” but the report received criticism from many experts who believed it raised more questions than answers.
Some experts believe that the true origins of COVID-19, which has claimed the lives of nearly seven million people worldwide, may never be definitively determined.
