WASHINGTON — U. S. officials released an intelligence report Friday that rejected some questions raised by those who argue that covid-19 leaked from a Chinese lab, reiterating that U. S. spy agencies remain divided over how the pandemic began.
The report was released at the request of Congress, which in March approved a bill giving U. S. intelligence agencies the right to do so. The U. S. Department of Homeland Security has 90 days to declassify intelligence related to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
President Joe Biden’s intelligence officials have been forced through lawmakers to release more documents about the origins of covid-19, but have continually argued that China’s official obstruction of independent reviews made it unlikely how the pandemic began.
The latest report angered some Republicans who argued that management is wrongly withholding classified data and researchers accusing the U. S. of the wrongful misconduct of classified data. UU. de be available.
[DOCUMENT: Read the one on the origins of the pandemic » arkansasonline. com/625dni/]
John Ratcliffe, who served as U. S. director of national intelligence. U. S. Secretary of State President Donald Trump accused Biden’s management of “continued obfuscation. “
“The lab leak is the only theory backed by science, intelligence and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in a statement.
There was renewed interest from investigators after the revelation earlier this year that the Energy Department’s intelligence branch had released a report advocating an incident involving the lab. But Friday’s report says the intelligence network went no further.
Four agencies still transferred the virus from animals to humans, and two agencies, the Department of Energy and the FBI, leaked the virus from a lab. The CIA and some other firms have not conducted an assessment.
Found in the city where the pandemic allegedly began, the Wuhan Institute of Virology has come under scrutiny for its previous studies on bat coronavirus and reported safety lapses.
The lab created genetically modified viruses from its research, according to the report, adding efforts to mix other viruses.
But the report says U. S. intelligence”However, it has no information to indicate that any genetically engineered paint from the SARS-CoV-2 WIV, a very similar progenitor, or a spine virus similar enough to have been the cause of the pandemic. “
And reports from several lab researchers who suffered respiratory symptoms in the fall of 2019 are also inconclusive, according to the report.
US intelligence, according to the report, “continues to assess that these data do not refute any of the hypotheses about the origins of the pandemic, as the researchers’ symptoms may have been caused by a number of ailments and some of the symptoms were not consistent with covid-19. “
In reaction to the report, the Republican chairmen of the House Intelligence Committee and a subcommittee on the pandemic jointly stated that they had amassed data in favor of speculation of a lab leak. Mike Turner and Brad Wenstrup, both of Ohio, credited the U. S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence with the release of the Director of National Intelligence. The U. S. government is accused of taking a “promising step toward transparency. “
“While we appreciate the ODNI report, corroboration of all available evidence, as well as further investigation into the origins of covid-19, will need to continue,” Turner and Wenstrup said.
But Alina Chan, a molecular biologist who has long argued that the virus may have originated in the Wuhan lab, noted that the public edition of the report did not include the names of the researchers who fell or other main points mandated by Congress.
The bill requiring the review allowed intelligence officials to publicly edit the data based on the agency’s resources and methods.
“It becomes very difficult for the government to rarely seek to hide what it knows about #OriginOfcovid when it sees a report like this that doesn’t involve any of the requested information,” Chan tweeted.