The Central Intelligence Agency has endorsed the lab leak theory as the most likely origin of COVID-19. Without revealing specific reasons for this shift, the CIA announced the change on Saturday, two days after John Ratcliffe was sworn in as its new director.
“We have low confidence in this judgment and will continue to evaluate any available credible new intelligence reporting or open-source information that could change the CIA’s assessment,” a spokesperson told reporters, according to Politico.
The decision appears to stem from CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who has consistently favored the lab leak theory. Former CIA Director William Burns had called for the agency to adopt a stance on COVID-19’s origins before his departure, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Ratcliffe has since moved to declassify the new assessment.
Ratcliffe, previously Director of National Intelligence under the Trump administration, had made clear his support for the lab leak theory, stating, “One of the things I’ve talked about is addressing the threat from China on a number of fronts, including the origins of COVID-19.”
The CIA joins the FBI and the Energy Department, which both consider a lab leak the most probable origin. Meanwhile, four other agencies, along with the National Intelligence Council, continue to support the zoonotic theory—that the virus naturally evolved in animals, such as bats or pangolins, before infecting humans.
Critics of the Chinese Communist Party have long accused it of a lack of transparency regarding COVID-19’s origins. Notable scientists, including former COVID-19 czar Dr. Anthony Fauci, have generally supported the zoonotic theory. Still, some virologists point to the Wuhan wet market, where live animals were sold for food, as a potential source, though no specific intermediate host has been identified.
Proponents of the lab leak theory have highlighted U.S.-funded coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, located near the wet market where the first COVID-19 cases were reported in November 2019. The virus has claimed the lives of approximately 1.2 million Americans, according to data from the CDC.
Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton applauded the CIA for its stance, stating, “I’m pleased the CIA concluded in the final days of the Biden administration that the lab-leak theory is the most plausible explanation of COVID’s origins. I commend Director Ratcliffe for fulfilling his promise to release this conclusion. Now, the most important thing is to make China pay for unleashing a plague on the world.”
China continues to deny the lab leak theory. The Post has reached out to the CIA for further comment.
