Politics
U.S. Energy Department Reveals China Lab Leak Most Likely Caused COVID-19 Pandemic
An assessment conducted by the U.S. Energy Department concluded that a Chinese lab leak is the most likely cause of the COVID-19 outbreak and the pandemic that followed.
The FBI previously took the stance that a mishap at a lab caused the pandemic, but the Energy Department remained undecided until now.
According to Fox News:
“The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies assess at “low confidence” that the COVID-19 pandemic originated due to natural transmission from an infected animal, while the CIA and another unnamed agency are undecided. The updated report maintains a consensus between all the intelligence agencies that the pandemic was not the result of a Chinese bioweapons program.”
Many took to social media to share the news, as the lab leak theory has been previously written off as a baseless conspiracy theory.
The report originally came from an exclusive article by The Washington Journal.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan commented on the report to CNN:
“Here’s what I can tell you: President Biden has directed repeatedly every element of our intelligence community to put effort and resources behind getting to the bottom of this question. And one of the things in that Wall Street Journal report, which I can’t confirm or deny, but I will say the reference to the Department of Energy, President Biden specifically requested that the national labs, which are a part of the Department of Energy, be brought into this assessment because he wants to put every tool at use to be able to figure out what happened here. And if we gain any further insider information, we will share it with Congress, and we will share it with the American people. But right now, there is not a definitive answer that has emerged from the intelligence community on this question.”