CIA now believes Virus responsible for the Covid-19 pandemia Most likely, it happened from the laboratory, according to an estimated Saturday, which shows a finger to China, even acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” on its own conclusion.
The conclusion is not the result of the new intelligence, and the report was completed at the will of the Biden administration and the former CIA Director William Bervance. It was declassified and released on Saturday by order of President Trump to head John Ratcliffe, who swore a director on Thursday.
“The CIA assesses that the COVID-19 pandemic study is more likely than the natural origin based on existing reporting. The CIA continues to evaluate that the scripts related to the research and the natural origin, and the COVID- 19 Pandemic scenarios It remains plausible, “the agency's spokesman said in a statement, noting that” will continue to evaluate any reliable intelligence reports or information about the open source that can change the CIA assessment. “
Jake Sullivan, Biden Administration, ordered the US intelligence intelligence in December, which was assembled at COVID-19, one current and one former US official confirmed CBS News. Sullivan convened the college of external experts to evaluate the intelligence and asked the intelligence community to revise their data and form the withdrawal. Both officials reported CBS News that there was no new smoking, but rather a low -mind -based assessment. Burns ordered to revise before leaving the CIA, citing a high interest of politics.
Han Guan / AP
The nuanced conclusion suggests that the agency believes that the set of evidence makes laboratory origin more likely than natural origin. But the agency's assessment assigns such a conclusion of a low degree of trust, believing that evidence is deficient, unconvincing or controversial.
Earlier messages about COVID-19 They split whether the coronavirus from the Chinese laboratory appeared, potentially mistaken whether it arose naturally. The new assessment is likely not to resolve the discussion. In fact, intelligence officials say it can never be resolved with -wit Lack of cooperation from the Chinese authorities.
Instead of new evidence, the conclusion was based on a fresh analysis of the intelligence about the spread of the virus, its scientific properties and the work and conditions of China's virology.
Legislators put pressure on the espionage agencies of America for more information on the origins of the virus, which led to blocking, economic upheaval and millions of deaths. This is a matter of significant internal and geopolitical consequences as the world continues to fight the pandemic heritage.
Res-Senator Tom Kotton from Arkansas, Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said that he was “satisfied on Saturday that the CIA ended in the last days of Baden's administration that the lab theory is the most plausible explanation,” and he praised Ratklifa Assessment.
“Now the most important thing is to force China to pay the plague in the world,” Kotton said in a statement.
The Chinese authorities have rejected the assumption of Covid's origin as a useful and motivated policy. On Saturday, the US Embassy's press stated that the CIA report was not confidence.
“We firmly oppose the politicization and stigmatization of the source of the virus, and once again urge everyone to respect the science and stay away from the conspiracy theories,” said the Embassy's press -secretary Liu Penghu in a statement sent by the Associated Press.
While the origin of the virus remains unknown, scientists believe that the most likely hypothesis is that it has circulated in bats, as in many coronaviruses, before infecting another species, probably dogs raccoon, civilian cats or bamboo rats. In turn, the infection spread to the handling of humans or the section of these animals on the market in the ear where the first Human cases appeared in late November 2019.
Some official studies, however, raised the question of whether the virus from the laboratory in the ear. Two years ago, the Energy Department's report concluded that the laboratory leak was the most likely origin, although this report also expressed low confidence in the conclusion.
In the same year, FBI director Christopher Urai said his agency believed that the “most likely” virus spread after escape from the laboratory.
Ratcliffe, who served as director of national intelligence during the first term of Trump, said he also contributed to the script of the laboratory leak.
“Lab leakage is the only theory that is supported by science, intelligence and common sense,” Ratcliffe said in 2023.
The CIA has stated that it would continue to evaluate any new information that could change its assessment.
He contributed to this report.