The Biden administration has been accused of suppressing intelligence that supported the theory that Covid-19 originated from a laboratory, according to a recent report by the Wall Street Journal.
The report suggests that there is evidence of a cover-up regarding the origins of the virus, including the possibility that the spike protein enabling the virus to infiltrate cells was lab-made.
The Wall Street Journal's investigation revealed that Jason Bannan, a Ph.D. in microbiology recruited by the FBI post-9/11 for his expertise on biological and chemical weapons, was expected to brief President Joe Biden during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. However, Bannan was never called upon to join the briefings. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI was the only agency among several investigating the pandemic's origin to express "moderate confidence" that the virus originated from a lab. The other four departments suggested an animal origin for the pandemic but expressed "low confidence" in their findings.
In August 2021, Biden was briefed by National Intelligence Director Avril Haines following a 90-day review ordered by the White House to investigate the virus's origins. However, the FBI was not invited to the meeting, despite being the only agency that assessed a laboratory origin as more likely. "Being the only agency that assessed that a laboratory origin was more likely, and the agency that expressed the highest level of confidence in its analysis of the source of the pandemic, we anticipated the FBI would be asked to attend the briefing, Bannan said in a recorded interview. I find it surprising that the White House didnt ask.
The Director of National Intelligence (DIA) defended the decision, stating that it was not standard practice to invite representatives from each agency and that each view on the pandemic was represented in the meeting with Biden. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the National Intelligence Councils work on Covid-19 origins complied with all of the Intelligence Communitys analytic standards, including objectivity, a spokesperson said.
However, the Wall Street Journal's investigation suggests that Biden administration officials attempted to prevent information supporting the lab-leak theory from going public. The report also revealed that three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, part of the Pentagons Defense Intelligence Agency, conducted a study concluding that Covid-19 was manipulated in a laboratory. This analysis contradicted the assessment of their parent agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and was not included in the report presented to Biden.
The exclusion of this report has prompted an investigation by the DIA Inspector Generals office to determine whether the report was suppressed or mishandled. The IG office declined to comment on the status of the investigation.
The Wall Street Journal also reported that Adrienne Keen, a State Department official, advocated for taking the World Health Organization's (WHO) report on the pandemic's origins seriously, unlike many others in the intelligence community. Keen, who previously worked at the WHO and later became the director for Global Health Security for the National Intelligence Council, concluded that the virus originated from an animal rather than a lab.
However, Former Acting Assistant Secretary of State Thomas DiNanno, who served in the first Trump term, accused Keen of discrediting the information they were trying to present. "Keen was very involved in discrediting the information that we were trying to present to the Secretary of State," DiNanno told reporters.
The Wall Street Journal's report also highlighted the work of three scientists from the National Center for Medical Intelligence, John Hardham, Robert Cutlip, and Jean-Paul Chretien. They concluded that the virus was manipulated in a lab and that a segment of the 'spike protein' enabling the virus to gain entry into human cells was constructed using techniques developed in the Wuhan lab. These findings align with the theory that Chinese scientists were conducting "gain of function" research.
Despite their findings, the scientists were told to cease their collaboration with the FBI in July 2021. Furthermore, many of their edits were not accepted by the National Intelligence Council for the report. This series of events raises questions about the transparency of the Biden administration and the handling of crucial information regarding the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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