The US will publish the results of investigations into the origin of the coronavirus that has caused an overwhelming pandemic and left millions of people dead worldwide.
Before boarding the presidential plane to fly to Cleveland, Ohio, President Biden told reporters Thursday that he would make public the results of the investigation “unless there is something subtle I still do not know.”
The U.S. intelligence community said Thursday that U.S. intelligence agencies have two theories about the origin of COVID-19.
Two intelligence agencies believe the virus came naturally from human contact with infected animals, and a third say the source of the global pandemic may have been a laboratory accident.
“The U.S. intelligence community does not know exactly where, when, or how the COVID-19 virus was first transmitted, but it comes together around two possible scenarios,” said the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), adding that most believe that there is not “enough information to estimate that one scenario is more likely than the other”.
The ODNI statement does not identify which of the 17 agencies that make up the American intelligence community believe the virus originated in infected animals and which believe they originated in a laboratory accident.
In both cases, however, the ODNI said that agencies that lean towards one explanation or another do so with “a low or moderate degree of trust,” which in intelligence language means that they believe the evidence they support. their view, are not conclusive.
Officials declined to discuss which agencies had expressed views on the origin of the virus, but noted that a large majority of U.S. agencies believe the information is insufficient to determine whether one scenario for the origin of the virus was more likely than the other.
Biden, calls for further investigation
President Joe Biden said Wednesday that he has called for further investigations into the origin of the pandemic.
“I have asked the intelligence community to redouble their efforts to gather and analyze information that can bring us closer to a conclusion and to report to me on this matter within 90 days,” he said.
“As part of this report, I have called for further inquiries, including specific questions about China,” said President Biden.