U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI-08) is criticizing a long-awaited report on the origins of COVID-19, saying it failed to answer significant questions surrounding researchers at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology who became sick with an unspecified illness in November 2019.
The 10-page report, finally declassified by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), underscores the fact that the intelligence community remains divided on the origins of a virus that is believed to have killed more than 1.13 million people in the United States, and nearly 7 million worldwide.
“All agencies continue to assess that both a natural and laboratory-associated origin remain plausible hypotheses to explain the first human infection,” the DNI report states.
The Wall Street Journal last week confirmed the names of three researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who suddenly became ill with an unspecified illness in November 2019. Among them, Ben Hu, an Institute of Virology scientist who had done extensive laboratory research on how coronaviruses infects humans, was identified in U.S. intelligence reports, the publication reported. Wu’s symptoms, according to American officials, “were consistent with either Covid-19 or a seasonal illness. None of the researchers died.”
“Hu is noteworthy, current and former officials say, because of his central role in coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” the Journal reported. “Further, some of the projects he worked on were funded by U.S. government grants, according to documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act by the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit that opposes taxpayer funded research on animals.”
Gallagher, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said law explicitly requires the director of National Intelligence to release details on the researchers, including their names, symptoms, and involvement in coronavirus research at the institute.
“This DNI release does none of that and, in many ways, obscures more than it illuminates,” Gallagher said. “The American people deserve better. After years of waiting, the American people deserve answers.”
As previously reported, the National Intelligence Council and four unidentified federal agencies concluded exposure to a virus-infected animal was the most likely entry into the first human infection, while the Department of Energy and FBI found a laboratory-linked leak was the more likely cause of infection.
At the same time, the CIA and another unnamed agency, according to the report, “remain unable to determine the precise origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, as both hypotheses rely on significant assumptions or face challenges with conflicting reports.”
Communist China has been less than cooperative with investigators.
“Not only should we better monitor the scientists and types of research we support but we must reform the U.S. global research grant administration to ensure oversight, transparency, and accountability,” said U.S. Senator Roger Marshall (R-Kansas). Marshall’s Covid Origins Muddy Waters Report, released in April, claims a “preponderance of evidence” shows the virus originated from two lab leaks in China.
Earlier this year, the House passed Gallagher’s COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, which required the Biden administration to declassify intelligence related to any potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and the origins of the Covid pandemic. The deadline for the Biden administration to declassify the intelligence was June 18, 2023.
“This is unacceptable and underscores the need for Congress to continue investigating the origins of COVID-19 and the associated Chinese Communist Party cover-up,” the congressman said of the lacking Director of Intelligence report.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Mike Gallagher” by Mike Gallagher. Background Photo “Wuhan Institute of Virology” by Ureem2805. CC BY-SA 4.0.
