The agency now believes “with low confidence” that Covid-19 likely came from a lab leak
The CIA now believes it is “more likely” that Covid-19 originated from a lab-leak incident rather than a natural source, while cautioning that the conclusion is not final.
In a statement on Saturday shared by multiple media outlets, a CIA spokesperson said the US agency “assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the Covid-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting.” However, the agency said both origin scenarios are possible, and that the evaluation could change as new data become available.
The updated assessment comes after the confirmation earlier this week of John Ratcliffe as CIA director, following his nomination by US President Donald Trump. Ratcliffe has been a vocal supporter of the lab-leak version, calling it “the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.” Following the confirmation, Ratcliffe also said the CIA’s assessment of Covid’s origins would be a “day-one thing for me.”
The Washington Post, citing sources, reported that the CIA’s assessment was completed prior to Ratcliffe’s swearing-in, but was declassified and made public at his direction.
The heated debate over the origins of Covid-19, which caused a global pandemic that killed over 7 million people, has long been at the center of US politics. One main theory is that Covid-19 emerged from a natural source, specifically through zoonotic transmission from animals to humans. Another version claims that the virus accidentally escaped from a laboratory in Wuhan, China – the city where the pandemic first began. The Chinese government has rejected the lab-leak theory.
The US authorities remain divided on the matter. The FBI and the Department of Energy have leaned toward the lab-leak theory, while other agencies, including some within the intelligence community, favor the natural origin theory.
In November, Robert Redfield, a former director of the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), claimed that Covid-19 was “intentionally engineered as a part of a biodefense program,” suggesting that the US role in this process was “substantial” given that it funded the relevant research.
