I’m rather shocked that the NY Times would even print this, since they were champions of calling anyone who claimed this as a conspiracy theorist who needed to be locked out of social media and society
Lab Leak Most Likely Caused Pandemic, Energy Dept. Says
New intelligence has prompted the Energy Department to conclude that an accidental laboratory leak in China most likely caused the coronavirus pandemic, though U.S. spy agencies remain divided over the origins of the virus, American officials said on Sunday.
The conclusion was a change from the department’s earlier position that it was undecided on how the virus emerged.
Some officials briefed on the intelligence said that it was relatively weak and that the Energy Department’s conclusion was made with “low confidence,” suggesting its level of certainty was not high. While the department shared the information with other agencies, none of them changed their conclusions, officials said.
Officials would not disclose what the intelligence was. But many of the Energy Department’s insights come from the network of national laboratories it oversees, rather than more traditional forms of intelligence like spy networks or communications intercepts.
This is on top of
In addition to the Energy Department, the F.B.I. has also concluded, with moderate confidence, that the virus first emerged accidentally from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a Chinese lab that worked on coronaviruses. Four other intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council have concluded, with low confidence, that the virus most likely emerged through natural transmission, the director of national intelligence’s office announced in October 2021.
Is it just me, or did no one actually hear about that back in 2021? Because all the media outlets were still saying that it was because someone ate a bat or something, and it was linked to ‘climate change’.
Many Democrats have not been persuaded by the lab leak hypothesis, with some saying they believe the natural causes explanation and others saying they are not certain that enough intelligence will emerge to draw a conclusion.
It’s tougher to push authoritarianism if someone f*cked up, rather than a changing world.
But many Republicans on Capitol Hill have said they believe the virus could have come from one of China’s research labs in Wuhan. A congressional subcommittee, created when Republicans took over the House in January, has made examining the lab leak theory a central focus of its work, and is expected to convene the first of a series of hearings in March.
Is this pouncing or seizing?
Read: Surprise: Biden DOE Says COVID Most Likely Caused By Lab Leak »