The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has announced a revised assessment regarding the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, stating that a laboratory leak is now considered “more likely” than a natural spillover event, Al Jazeera reports.
This “low confidence” judgment marks a shift from previous positions and comes amid ongoing scrutiny of the virus’s emergence.
“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 CIA’s assessment,” the CIA said.
The assessment, according to US media reports, was completed under the administration of former President Joe Biden and was not based on newly acquired intelligence. The timing of the announcement follows the swearing-in of John Ratcliffe as director of the CIA, under President Donald Trump, on Thursday, though the reports indicate the assessment was already in motion.
The CIA’s stance now aligns with those of the FBI and the Department of Energy, both of which have also publicly stated that the virus most likely escaped from a lab in Wuhan, China. This growing consensus among several US agencies further fuels the ongoing debate surrounding the origins of the pandemic.
China’s embassy in Washington, DC, quickly denounced the CIA’s assessment, accusing the agency of “concocting misleading conclusions, throwing dirty water on China, and engaging in framing.” The Chinese government has consistently denied any possibility of a lab leak.
Despite the shift by some intelligence agencies, a significant portion of the US intelligence community maintains that the virus likely originated from natural transmission. Four other US intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council continue to support this theory.
