Michael R. Gordon and Warren P. Strobel
WASHINGTON—FBI Director Christopher Wray said Tuesday that the Covid pandemic was probably the result of a laboratory leak in China, providing the first public confirmation of the bureau’s classified judgment of how the virus that led to the deaths of nearly seven million people worldwide first emerged.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Mr. Wray told Fox News. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.”
Mr. Wray added that the Chinese government has been trying to “thwart and obfuscate” the investigation that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, other parts of the U.S. government and foreign partners have been carrying out into the origin of the pandemic, but that the bureau’s work continues.
The Wall Street Journal reported Sunday that the FBI had come to the conclusion with “moderate confidence” in 2021 that the Covid-19 pandemic was likely the result of an accidental lab leak and still holds to this view.
The Department of Energy, the Journal also reported, now also judges the pandemic was most likely the result of an unintended lab leak. The Energy Department reached that assessment with “low confidence” as a result of new intelligence, and it represents a shift from its previous position in 2021, which was undecided.
The FBI and Energy Department’s assessments are included in a classified report that was provided to the White House and some lawmakers earlier this year.
Four other intelligence agencies that officials haven’t named and the National Intelligence Council, which conducts long-term strategic analysis, still favor the theory that the virus emerged when it leapt from an animal to a human, though with “low confidence.”
The Central Intelligence Agency and another agency that officials haven’t identified remain undecided between the lab-leak and natural-transmission theories, people who have read the classified report said.
There is a consensus among the agencies that the virus wasn’t the result of a biological-weapons program, people familiar with the classified report said.
China has disputed that the virus could have leaked from one of its labs and has suggested it emerged outside China.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said the Chinese government has been trying to ‘thwart and obfuscate’ the investigation.PHOTO: CHRIS MACHIAN/ASSOCIATED PRESS
“The origin of the novel coronavirus is a scientific issue and should not be politicized,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing Monday.
“The bottom line is we’ve got to get to the bottom of this,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.). “The Biden administration is committed to it. They have all kinds of people looking at it, and we’ll wait to see their results.”
The FBI employs microbiologists, immunologists and other scientists. It funds and manages the National Bioforensic Analysis Center, which was established at Fort Detrick, Md., in 2004 to analyze possible biological threats.
Mr. Wray in his television interview said that among the array of potential dangers, these scientists, along with bureau agents and analysts, “focus specifically on the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses like Covid, and the concerns that in the wrong hands—some bad guys, a hostile nation-state, a terrorist, a criminal—the threats that those could pose.”
The Energy Department oversees a network of U.S. national laboratories, some of which conduct advanced biological research. The “Z Division” of the department’s California-based Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory conducts analysis of adversaries’ nuclear, biological and chemical weapons programs, and supports the U.S. intelligence community.
The new report from the intelligence community updates a 2021 assessment that was led by the office of Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines.
Some scientists have argued the virus, as with other previously unknown pathogens that have infected humans, must have emerged from nature, likely as a result of China’s extensive, largely unregulated wild-animal trade.
As more time has gone by, however, and no animal host has been found, there has been greater focus among scientists on the potentially risky nature of the coronavirus research in Wuhan and the possibility of an unintended leak.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday President Biden supports “a whole-of-government effort” to try to unravel what led to the pandemic.
“We’re just not there yet,” he said. “If we have something that is ready to be briefed to the American people and the Congress, we will do that.”
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