Did the CIA bribe analysts to reject Covid-19 China lab-leak theory? Scientists have doubts
- An agency whistle-blower claims CIA personnel were offered incentives to change their mind on the origin of the virus
- A virologist based in China says the suggestion is part of a highly partisan debate in the United States
The claim, made in testimony to two US House of Representatives committees, is the latest twist in the debate over whether the virus came from a laboratory in the central Chinese city of Wuhan or jumped to humans from an animal host.
According to the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic and Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the whistle-blower, described as a “highly credible senior-level CIA officer”, claimed that six of the seven CIA analysts that investigated Covid-19’s origins concluded that the virus likely originated from a lab in Wuhan.
Those six were allegedly offered financial incentives to “change their position”.
“According to the whistle-blower, at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the team believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that Covid-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China,” representatives and committee heads Brad Wenstrup and Mike Turner wrote in a letter to CIA director William Burns.
“The whistle-blower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position.”