Washington, DC: In a new whistleblower testimony, a senior CIA officer alleged that the agency attempted to silence six analysts who concluded that SARS-CoV-2 likely originated in a Wuhan lab. The whistleblower sent a letter to Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Chief William Burns on Tuesday, revealing these claims, as reported by the New York Post.
The whistleblower’s testimony to Congress suggests that the CIA offered incentives to analysts to suppress their findings that COVID-19 probably leaked from a Wuhan lab in China.
Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Mike Turner (R-Ohio), Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, have requested all documents, communications, and payment details from the CIA’s COVID Discovery Team by September 26.
According to the House panel chairmen, “According to the whistleblower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the Team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low-confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.” They further claim, “The whistleblower further contends that, in order to arrive at the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position.”
It’s worth noting that these analysts were experienced officers with significant scientific expertise.
The lawmakers have also requested documents and communications between the CIA and other government agencies, including the State Department, FBI, Department of Health and Human Services, and Department of Energy.
The FBI was the first US intelligence agency to suggest that the COVID-19 outbreak was most likely due to a laboratory leak. In February, the Energy Department assessed that a lab leak was plausible based on new information.
In June, the US intelligence community released a 10-page assessment on the origins of COVID, revealing “biosafety concerns” and “genetic engineering” at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, even though most agencies assessed that SARS-CoV-2 was not genetically engineered.
