CIA’s low confidence assessment links COVID-19 to lab leak theory

iNDICA NEWS BUREAU-

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has assessed that the COVID-19 virus is more likely to have originated from an accidental lab leak in China rather than from a natural source, according to a report from CNN citing a statement from the agency.

This statement, issued on Saturday, January 25, follows the return of John Ratcliffe as CIA Director just two days earlier. For years, the CIA had stated that it did not have enough information to determine which origin theory was more likely. However, the new assessment is classified as a “low confidence” judgment, and the natural origin scenario is still considered possible by the agency.

The declassification of this assessment highlights one of the first major decisions made by Ratcliffe, who has long supported the theory that the COVID-19 pandemic originated from research in China. He had previously pledged to prioritize this issue from Day 1 of his tenure.

In an interview published in Breitbart on Thursday, John Ratcliff said, “I’ve been on record as you know in saying I think our intelligence, our science, and our common sense all really dictates that the origins of COVID was a leak at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” according to CNN report.

He added, “But the CIA has not made that assessment or at least not made that assessment publicly. So I’m going to focus on that and look at the intelligence and make sure that the public is aware that the agency is going to get off the sidelines.”
According to a U.S. official, this new assessment was made before the Trump administration ended. The official said that CIA Director Bill Burns, under President Joe Biden, had encouraged analysts to take a stance on the origins of COVID-19. This assessment was published within the U.S. government before Trump left office on January 20.

The assessment was not based on new intelligence gathered by the U.S. government, as officials have noted that such intelligence is unlikely to surface many years later. Instead, it was based on a review of existing information.

A CIA spokesperson said in a statement on Saturday, “CIA continues to assess that both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.”

The spokesperson added, “We have low confidence in this judgement and will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change CIA’s assessment,” as reported by CNN.

U.S. intelligence agencies have unanimously maintained that the COVID-19 pandemic was not developed as a biological weapon. However, there has been no consensus on the virus’s origins, as noted in a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in 2023. This report stated that nearly all U.S. intelligence agencies agree the virus was not genetically engineered.

The intelligence community has yet to determine with high confidence whether the COVID-19 pandemic originated from a lab leak or naturally in the wild, according to CNN.

Many scientists believe that the virus occurred naturally in animals and spread to humans during an outbreak in a market in Wuhan, China. On the other hand, proponents of the “lab leak theory” argue that the virus resulted from research conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Former President Trump supported the lab leak theory during his first term in office. Under his administration, the U.S. State Department launched an effort to prove that the virus originated in a Chinese lab. However, the Biden administration did not pursue this effort.

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