US intelligence is still divided on virus origin
WASHINGTON – U.S. intelligence agencies remain divided on the origins of the coronavirus but believe China’s leaders did not know about the virus before the start of the global pandemic, according to results released Friday of a review ordered by President Joe Biden.
According to an unclassified summary, four members of the U.S. intelligence community said with low confidence that the virus was initially transmitted from an animal to a human. A fifth intelligence agency believed with moderate confidence that the first human infection was linked to a lab. Analysts do not believe the virus was developed as a bioweapon.
China’s refusal to fully cooperate with U.S. and international investigations of the virus has hampered reviews of the virus’ origins. The Director of National Intelligence said Friday that China “continues to hinder the global investigation, resist sharing information, and blame other countries including the United States.”
The cause of the coronavirus remains an urgent public health and security concern worldwide. In the U.S., many conservatives have accused Chinese scientists of developing COVID-19 in a lab and allowing it to leak. The scientific consensus remains that the virus likely migrated from animals as part of a zoonotic transmission.
China’s foreign ministry attacked the U.S. investigation ahead of the report’s release. Fu Cong, a Foreign Ministry director general, said at a briefing for foreign journalists that “scapegoating China cannot whitewash the U.S.”
“If they want to baselessly accuse China, they better be prepared to accept the counterattack from China,” he said.
Biden in May ordered a 90-day review of what the White House said was an initial finding leading to “two likely scenarios”: an animal-to-human transmission or a lab leak. The White House said then that two agencies in the 18member intelligence community leaned toward the hypothesis of a transmission in nature and another agency leaned toward a lab leak.
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence on Friday did not identify which agencies supported either hypothesis.