COVID lab-leak: Biden kept in dark, spy chiefs 'silenced' FBI
What's the story
A recent report has revealed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was left out of a key briefing to United States President Joe Biden on the origins of COVID-19.
The August 2021 briefing by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) did not include the FBI, even though it was the only US intelligence agency to determine that a lab leak was most likely how the virus started.
Jason Bannan, a former senior scientist at the FBI, was surprised by this exclusion.
Theory exclusion
FBI's lab leak theory sidelined in COVID-19 origins briefing
The NIC's review, which included four intelligence agencies, concluded with "low confidence" that COVID-19 most likely originated from animal transmission.
This conclusion was in line with a popular theory that the virus spread from a bat at a Wuhan wet market.
However, three scientists from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA)—John Hardham, Robert Cutlip, and Jean-Paul Chretien—found evidence supporting a lab leak theory.
Evidence found
DIA scientists find evidence supporting lab leak theory
The DIA scientists found multiple points supporting the lab leak theory.
These included a spike protein feature facilitating human transmission akin to methods mentioned in a 2008 study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).
A Chinese military researcher applied for a vaccine patent weeks after sequencing the virus in 2020 and died mysteriously.
Evidence also indicated WIV researchers collaborated with US scientists on engineering viruses undetectable as man-made.
Evidence exclusion
Intelligence officials exclude lab leak evidence from report
Despite these findings, intelligence officials kept them out of the report shared with Biden.
They also prevented researchers from sharing their analysis with Congress or the FBI.
A source claimed that "the scientists who had the subject matter expertise were silenced," leaving Biden and other officials unaware of this evidence.
Whistleblower Lt. Col. Joseph Murphy alleged federal grant documents outlining a "blueprint" for engineering viruses like SARS-CoV-2 were improperly classified.
Transparency calls
Calls for transparency and re-examination of suppressed findings
The suppressed findings have reignited calls for transparency and further investigation into COVID-19's origins.
Bannan criticized this lack of transparency in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, saying, "What ended up on the intelligence community's cutting-room floor needs to be re-examined."
However, a spokesperson for the Director of National Intelligence said that all perspectives within the intelligence community were fairly represented in the briefing.