“The US Intelligence Community operates covertly, yet I remain committed to advocating for transparency, accountability, and justice for every American affected by the pandemic,” Marshall stated.
In the initial stage of the pandemic, investigators from the Defense Department and the FBI discovered indications that the COVID-19 virus may have been manipulated and accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China. Despite this, it was reported that Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines did not bring these findings to the attention of President Biden in the agency’s August 2021 report.
This evidence included a 2008 study by the Wuhan Institute of Virology showing Chinese researchers, such as Dr. Shi Zhengli, had been enhancing viruses for better human transmission and had collaborated with a US lab in Texas prior to the pandemic. The Defense Department and FBI researchers identified signs of a lab leak, but their conclusions were reportedly not communicated to President Biden by Avril Haines.
Furthermore, detailed genetic analyses of SARS-CoV-2 and evidence that WIV scientists had developed methods to create new viruses seamlessly were part of the findings. However, the team of scientists at the Defense Intelligence Agency’s National Center for Medical Intelligence who supported the theory of a lab leak were allegedly silenced by their superiors and instructed to cease collaboration with the FBI.
Months before the intelligence report was released, Senator Chuck Grassley had requested Director Haines to provide information related to the lab leak, but this effort was reportedly thwarted by agency officials. Grassley criticized Haines for failing to fully respond to congressional oversight requests, preventing crucial information from reaching Congress and the President.
Some sources within the intelligence community also blamed political appointees for promoting the natural spillover theory of the pandemic’s origin, despite limited supporting evidence. Spy chiefs prohibited the scientists from countering a debunked paper on the origin of SARS-CoV-2 and obstructed efforts to present evidence supporting the lab leak theory.
The FBI scientist, Jason Bannan, along with his team who supported the lab leak theory, was excluded from the White House briefing with President Biden. The briefing informed the president that SARS-CoV-2 was likely not genetically engineered. Bannan expressed surprise that the White House did not invite the FBI, the only agency that believed a laboratory origin was more likely and had the highest confidence in their analysis of the pandemic’s source. The scientists were prohibited from challenging a debunked paper from March 2020, led by Dr. Anthony Fauci, that aimed to discredit the lab leak theory. Whistleblower documents obtained in November revealed flaws in the intelligence community’s investigation, prompting a call for further scrutiny. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Joseph Murphy discovered that an unclassified grant proposal, Project DEFUSE, had been mishandled, leading to its exclusion from an important report. The proposal, submitted by EcoHealth Alliance, detailed genetic experiments with bat coronaviruses and SARS and MERS viruses. The organization has faced suspensions and recommendations for prosecution due to conducting experiments under potentially unsafe lab conditions.
The EcoHealth Alliance has been overdue in submitting a progress report for its WIV grant for nearly two years. It has come to light that Peter Daszak, President of EcoHealth Alliance, attempted to downplay the involvement of Chinese researchers in the 2018 DEFUSE grant proposal. Former federal officials, including ex-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, have raised concerns about the testing of unfunded projects under other research grants.
Marshall, in a letter to Inspector General Thomas Monheim dated November 14, criticized the Office of the Director of National Intelligence’s assessment as flawed. It has been revealed that one of the US-based collaborators on a WIV grant funded by EcoHealth, Dr. Ralph Baric from the University of North Carolina, was consulted by ODNI as part of its COVID origins investigation. This raised concerns about a potential conflict of interest, as pointed out by Marshall.
Both NIH officials and EcoHealth representatives have consistently denied that any experiments conducted could have led to the COVID-19 pandemic, which originated in Wuhan, a significant distance from the nearest bats capable of infecting humans. The devastating impact of the virus has resulted in the loss of more than 1.2 million American lives.
In response to mounting concerns and speculations, President Biden instructed the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to initiate an investigation in May 2021 to determine whether the COVID-19 pandemic was the result of a laboratory accident or had a natural origin. A subsequent unclassified report released in June 2023 maintained that “Almost all IC agencies assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not genetically engineered.”
Despite these developments, representatives for the Office of the Intelligence Community Inspector General have not provided any comments in response to inquiries regarding the ongoing investigation and findings.
