CIA revises COVID-19 origin assessment based on new intelligence
CIA shifts position on COVID-19 origin, highlights lab leak theory. The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has updated its position on the origins of Covid-19, stating on Saturday that the virus is “more likely” to have leaked from a Chinese laboratory than to have been transmitted naturally from animals.
This shift follows the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as CIA director during the second White House administration of Donald Trump. Ratcliffe, who previously served as director of national intelligence from 2020 to 2021, identified investigating Covid-19’s origins as a key priority.
In an interview published Friday, Ratcliffe told right-wing outlet Breitbart that the CIA would take a more active role in the matter. “The agency is going to get off the sidelines,” said Ratcliffe, who supports the theory that Covid-19 originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
New CIA Assessment
A CIA spokesperson disclosed in a statement on Saturday that the agency now assesses, with low confidence, that a research-related origin for the pandemic is more likely than a natural one. However, the spokesperson emphasized that both scenarios remain plausible based on the current body of intelligence.
This marks a departure from the agency’s earlier neutral stance, as it had not previously determined whether the virus resulted from a lab mishap or naturally spilled over from animals.
Analysis Leading to the Shift
According to a US official, the revised assessment stems from a new analysis of existing intelligence, ordered by former CIA director William Burns and finalized prior to Ratcliffe’s appointment.
While divisions persist within the US intelligence community, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Energy also back the lab-leak theory, albeit with varying levels of confidence. Meanwhile, most other agencies favor the natural origins hypothesis.
Arguments for the Lab-Leak Theory
Advocates for the lab-leak scenario point to the fact that the earliest known cases of Covid-19 emerged in Wuhan, China — home to the Wuhan Institute of Virology and a major hub for coronavirus research — located roughly 1,600 kilometers from bat populations carrying similar Sars-like viruses.
As investigations continue, the debate over the pandemic’s origins underscores the complexity of tracing zoonotic diseases and the critical importance of transparency in global health research.
