(Ken Silva, Headline USA) The Wall Street Journal published the inside story of how the intelligence agencies investigated the origins of COVID-19 under the Biden administration, revealing that Joe Biden’s handlers blocked the FBI and other scientists from presenting their lab-leak theory to the President.
The Journal’s article focused on what’s been deemed the “90-day sprint”—when Biden ordered his intelligence agencies to conduct an expedited study into Covid’s origins.
“The intelligence agencies that drilled into the issue brought a range of capabilities, from the National Security Agency, which intercepts foreign communications, to the FBI, which has a cadre of experts, including some who worked in the National Bioforensic Analysis Center, a laboratory for handling biological agents at Fort Detrick, Md,” the Journal wrote.
As has been widely documented, the FBI concluded with “moderate confidence” that COVID likely originated from a lab leak. Three scientists at the National Center for Medical Intelligence, part of the Pentagon’s Defense Intelligence Agency, also reportedly concluded that “Covid-19 was manipulated in a laboratory in a risky research effort.”
But according to the Journal, those findings weren’t presented to Biden.
“The intelligence officials who briefed Biden in August 2021 at the White House all wore masks to protect them against the still-raging pandemic, as did the president. The participants included [Avril] Haines, the president’s top intelligence official, and Murphy, from the National Intelligence Council. They were accompanied by another analyst from Haines’s office and a technical expert from the Central Intelligence Agency,” the Journal reported.
WSJ revealed this morning that the top FBI scientist who ruled COVID as a likely lab leak previously worked on the post-9/11 anthrax case. pic.twitter.com/ZS7Vo5fHI3
— Ken Silva (@JD_Cashless) December 26, 2024
“Since the National Intelligence Council was among proponents of the zoonotic theory, and the CIA, like two other agencies, had declined to take a stand either way, the makeup of the briefing meant that no proponents of the lab leak theory were present.”
Responding to the Journal, spokesman for Haines’s office reportedly said that the FBI assessment that pointed to a lab leak was “accurately presented” during that August 2021 meeting.
The Journal also reported that the National Center for Medical Intelligence’s findings weren’t included in the DIA’s final report on the matter.
Meanwhile, U.S. intelligence agencies still haven’t reached a strong consensus as to what started COVID. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has indicated that he will investigate the matter next Congress when he heads the Senate Judiciary Committee.
“The pace of U.S. intelligence investigation has slackened, as many intelligence analysts who were assigned to the crash effort have shifted to other priorities,” the Journal reported.
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/jd_cashless.