Erin Banco
NEW YORK (Reuters) – The Central Intelligence Agency has assessed that the Covid-19 pandemic is “more likely” to have emerged from a laboratory rather than nature, an agency spokesman said on Saturday.
The agency has said for years that it could not conclude whether Coid-19 was the result of a laboratory incident or was caused by nature. But in the final weeks of the Biden administration, former CIA Director William Burns asked CIA analysts and scientists to make clear their determination, emphasizing the historic significance of the pandemic, according to a senior US official.
The CIA says it has “low confidence” in its assessment that “a research-related origin of the Coid-19 pandemic is more likely,” and in its statement notes that both scenarios — a laboratory origin and a natural origin — remain plausible.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was unclear to what extent the agency had gathered new intelligence about the origins of Coid-19 and whether that new evidence was used to formulate the latest assessment.
The Chinese government says it supports and has participated in research to determine the origin of Coid-19, and has accused Washington of politicizing the issue, particularly because of efforts by US intelligence agencies to investigate.
Beijing said claims that a laboratory leak likely caused the pandemic lacked credibility.
In an interview with Breitbart following his confirmation by the US Senate on Friday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe said one of his first priorities was getting his agency to make a public assessment of the origins of the pandemic.
“It’s a day-one for me,” he said. “I was on record as you know I think our intelligence, our science and our common sense really dictate that the origin of Covid was leaked by the Wuhan Institute of Virology.”
