WASHINGTON — The CIA now blames China in an assessment released Saturday, saying it believes the virus that causes the COVID-19 pandemic most likely originated in a laboratory. The spy agency admits it has “low confidence” in its conclusions.
The findings were not the result of new information, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA Director William Burns. The documents were declassified and made public on Saturday at the behest of John Ratcliffe, President Trump’s pick to head the agency, who was sworn in as director Thursday.
The mixed results suggest that authorities believe the combined evidence suggests a more likely laboratory origin than a natural one. However, the agency’s assessment has low confidence in this conclusion, suggesting that the evidence is insufficient, inconclusive, or contradictory.
Previous reports on the origins of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) have differed over whether the coronavirus originated in a Chinese laboratory, by mistake, or naturally. The new assessment is unlikely to settle the debate. In fact, intelligence officials say the issue may never be resolved due to lack of cooperation from Chinese authorities.
The CIA “continues to assess that both the research-related and natural origin scenarios for the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible,” the agency said in a statement about the new assessment.
This conclusion was not based on new evidence, but on a new analysis of information about the spread of the virus, its scientific characteristics, and the work and status of Chinese virology laboratories.
Lawmakers are asking US spy agencies for more information about the origins of the virus that has caused lockdowns, economic chaos and millions of deaths. This is an issue with significant domestic and geopolitical implications as the world continues to grapple with the legacy of the pandemic.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas), chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Saturday that he was “pleased that the CIA concluded in the final stages of the Biden administration that the lab leak was the most plausible explanation.” He praised Ratcliffe’s declassification. evaluation.
“The most important thing now is to make China pay for the epidemic it brought to the world,” Cotton said in a statement.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment. Chinese authorities have in the past dismissed speculation about the origins of the coronavirus as unhelpful and politically motivated.
The origin of this virus remains unknown, but scientists believe that the virus, like many coronaviruses, circulated in bats before infecting other species, possibly including raccoon dogs, civets, and bamboo rats. We believe that this hypothesis is the most likely. The virus then spread to humans who handled and butchered these animals at a market in Wuhan, leading to the first human infection in late November 2019.
But some official investigations have raised questions about whether the virus escaped from a Wuhan lab. A Department of Energy report two years ago concluded that a laboratory leak was the most likely cause, but that report also expressed low confidence in the findings.
That same year, then-FBI Director Christopher Wray said authorities believed the virus “most likely” spread after escaping from a lab.
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term, also said he supported the lab leak scenario.
“The lab leak is the only theory supported by science, intelligence and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in 2023.
The CIA said it continues to evaluate new information that could change its assessment.
Klepper writes for The Associated Press.
