Advertising
Supported by
The conclusion, which was drawn with “low confidence,” came as U. S. intelligence agencies were not allowed to reach the issue. The U. S. remained divided over the origins of the coronavirus.
Send a story to any friend.
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift pieces to offer per month. Everyone can read what you share.
By Julian E. Barnes
WASHINGTON — New data has led the Department of Energy to conclude that an accidental lab leak in China likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, even though U. S. spy agencies have been working on the coronavirus pandemic. U. S. officials remain divided over the origins of the virus, U. S. officials said Sunday.
The conclusion replaces the ministry’s earlier position that it is unsure how the virus emerged.
Some officials briefed on the intelligence said it was weak and that the Energy Department’s conclusion was reached with “little confidence,” suggesting its point of certainty was not high. Although the branch shared the data with other agencies, none of them replaced its findings. officials said.
They did not disclose what the data was. But much of the Energy Department’s wisdom comes from its network of national laboratories, some of which conduct biological research, rather than from more classic intelligence bureaucracy like spy networks or communications interceptions.
Intelligence officials believe scrutiny of the early stages of the pandemic may also be vital to improving the global reaction to long-term health crises, though they warn that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to find an answer about the source of the virus given Chinese opposition to new research. Scientists say it’s a responsibility to know how a pandemic that killed nearly seven million people began, and learning more about its origins can also help researchers identify what the biggest threats from long-term outbreaks are.
The new data and update to the department’s outlook were first reported via the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.
Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, declined to verify the information but said President Biden had ordered national laboratories to worry about the origins of the outbreak so the government would use “every tool” at its disposal.
In addition to the Department of Energy, the FBI also concluded, with moderate confidence, that the virus first gave the impression of the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese laboratory that has been working with coronavirus. Four other intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council have concluded, with little confidence, that the maximum maximum virus likely emerged through herbal transmission, the director of the National Intelligence Bureau announced in October 2021.
Mr. Sullivan said divisions remain.
“There are a variety of perspectives on the intelligence network,” he said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union. “Some elements of the intelligence network have reached conclusions on the one hand, others on the other. Several of them said they simply didn’t have enough data to be sure.
Sullivan said that if more data is obtained, management will share it with Congress and the public. “But at the moment, there is nothing definitive that has emerged from the intelligence network on this issue,” he said.
Existing evidence from some scientists, adding genes for the virus, indicates that a large position in the live food and animal market in Wuhan is the most likely position where the coronavirus appeared.
How Times reporters cover politics. We depend on our news hounds to be independent observers. Therefore, while Times staff members can vote, they are not allowed to participate in campaigns or crusades on behalf of candidates or political causes. candidate or electoral cause.
The intelligence network leaders are scheduled to brief Congress on March 8 and 9 as part of annual hearings on global threats. Avril D. Haines, director of national intelligence, and other top officials would likely be questioned about the ongoing investigation into the origins of the virus.
How the pandemic began has a dividing line in intelligence reports, and recent congressional reports have not been bipartisan.
Many Democrats have not been convinced through the lab leak hypothesis, and some say they have been convinced in explaining the herbal reasons and others say they are not sure enough intelligence will emerge to reach a conclusion.
But many Republicans on Capitol Hill said they believed the virus may have originated in one of China’s study labs in Wuhan. component of their work. He is expected to convene the first of a series of hearings in March.
“For more than a year there has been mounting evidence in favor of speculation of a lab leak,” said Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who sits on the House Intelligence Committee and heads a new House committee on China. I’m glad that some of our agencies are starting to pay attention to a non-unusual sense and replace their assessment. “
On Tuesday, Gallagher will hold the first hearing of the new committee, examining the risk the Chinese Communist Party poses to the United States. Future hearings, Gallagher said, will deal with biosecurity and China’s efforts to influence foreign organizations such as the World Health Organization.
“Where our committee can play a role is by locating what this communicates about the DNA of the Chinese Communist Party, an organization that is willing to hide the origins of the pandemic and thus claim critical days, months and weeks and millions of lives. “the process,” Gallagher said in an interview Sunday.
The Chinese government has described speculation about the leak as a clinically unsubstantiated and politically motivated lab lie.
Early in the Biden administration, the president ordered intelligence agencies to investigate the origins of the pandemic, after criticizing a WHO report on the subject. While there were elements that had not been thoroughly considered through intelligence officials, the review ultimately did not result in a new consensus within the agencies.
The March 2021 WHO report said it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus would accidentally leave a laboratory. Officials have largely ignored this work.
Intelligence agencies said they don’t believe there’s evidence that the coronavirus that causes covid-19 was intentionally created as a biological weapon. Valid debate.
Anthony Ruggiero, a researcher at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former National Security Council staff member who focuses on biodefense issues under the Trump administration, said he believes China “still hides very important information” about the emergence of the virus. The theory of laboratory leaks should not be rejected.
“The origin of the lab leak of the Covid-19 pandemic is not, nor is, a conspiracy theory,” he said.
Benjamin Mueller and Sheryl Gay Stolberg contributed to this report.
Advertising