CIA Now Favors Lab Leak Theory on Origins of Covid-19

Agency says it had ‘low confidence’ in its finding, but this is further than it has ever gone in pinpointing the origin of a virus that killed millions worldwide

By Michael R. Gordon and Dustin Volz of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"The Central Intelligence Agency has now concluded that the deadly Covid-19 pandemic most likely arose from a laboratory leak"

"In doing so, the CIA has now joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Energy Department in identifying a laboratory mishap in Wuhan, China, as the probable source of the Covid virus."

"The agency said in its Saturday statement that “both research-related and natural origin scenarios of the COVID-19 pandemic remain plausible.”"

"A former FBI senior scientist told The Wall Street Journal in December that a fresh look at the virus’s origin and the intelligence-community reports on the issue was needed."

"the debate over Covid’s origins has shifted considerably over the past several years. No host animal that might have transmitted the virus has been found, while experts have raised concerns that precautions for containing biological agents at the Wuhan Institute of Virology were inadequate."

"The FBI, which was the first intelligence agency to point to a lab leak as a likely explanation, made its judgment with “moderate confidence,” while the Energy Department and CIA’s views were made with low confidence."