DIA leads on lab leak theory

The 17 agencies that make up the U.S. intelligence community remain divided on how the virus behind the COVID-19 pandemic originated, but the Defense Intelligence Agency is the most forward-leaning among the spy services in asserting that the virus most likely began inside a Chinese laboratory, according to U.S. intelligence sources. The unclassified version of the intelligence assessment ordered by President Biden three months ago on the virus’ origin was made public last week. The public assessment is a hodgepodge of statements that critics of American intelligence call a “two-handed” analysis. On the one hand, the agencies said the virus may have come from a Chinese laboratory, such as the Wuhan Institute of Virology, that was engaged in dangerous bat coronavirus alterations near the first outbreak. On the other hand, the analysts working under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence say the virus likely emanated from an animal spillover that made the jump to humans and triggered the pandemic, which has cost millions of lives and billions of dollars in economic losses. The 1½-page summary of unclassified “key findings” states that four unidentified U.S. intelligence agencies and the ODNI-led National Intelligence Council have “low confidence” that the outbreak originated from an animal with a virus…. (Excerpts from Washington Times)