NYT – C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins – New York Times
NYT – C.I.A. Now Favors Lab Leak Theory to Explain Covid’s Origins
A new analysis that began under the Biden administration is released by the C.I.A.’s new director, John Ratcliffe, who wants the agency to get “off the sidelines” in the debate.
The C.I.A. has said for years that it did not have enough information to conclude whether the Covid pandemic emerged naturally from a wet market in Wuhan, China, or from an accidental leak at a research lab there.
But the agency issued a new assessment this week, with analysts saying they now favor the lab theory.
There is no new intelligence behind the agency’s shift, officials said. Rather it is based on the same evidence it has been chewing over for months.
The analysis, however, is based in part on a closer look at the conditions in the high security labs in Wuhan province before the pandemic outbreak, according to people familiar with the agency’s work.
A spokeswoman for the agency said the other theory remains plausible and that the agency will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting.
Some American officials say the debate matters little: The Chinese government failed to either regulate its markets or oversee its labs. But others argue it is an important intelligence and scientific question.
John Ratcliffe, the new director of the C.I.A., has long favored the lab leak hypothesis. He has said it is a critical piece of intelligence that needs to be understood and that it has consequences for U.S.-Chinese relations.
🔗SOURCE ➡️ New York Times [Bypass Paywall] .
Related: 12/27 – Bombshell Report: High-Level Scientists Ordered To Bury Covid Lab Leak Evidence – WSJ
3/3 – WSJ – Where Did Covid Come From?
New documents bolster the theory that it not only escaped from a laboratory but was developed in one.
12/26/23 – CIA Accused Of Hiding Records That Analysts Took ‘Monetary Incentives’ To Bury Covid Lab Leak Finding
11/29/23 – Top WHO Consultant Who Works for US Intelligence Helped Downplay COVID Lab Leak Theory: Official
8/18/23 – The Suspiciously Convenient Timing of Covid for the Davos Elite and the WEF’s ‘Great Reset’ – TheMcgwire / @PsyopDaily Original
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