US Dept. of Energy & FBI Agree COVID-19 Pandemic Most Likely Caused by Mishap at China's Wuhan Lab

An intelligence report from the U.S. Energy Department concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic started with a leak from a Chinese laboratory.

The Wall Street Journal reports the agency's conclusion is based on new, undisclosed, evidence.

The department manages many national labs, including some that perform advanced biological research.

The report is at odds with most U.S. intelligence agencies, which believe COVID came through an infected animal. 

Only the FBI agrees it originated with a mistake at a Chinese lab and the Energy Department reportedly has "low confidence" in its conclusion.

Biden administration officials declined to comment on the new intelligence that led to the department changing its position on COVID's origins. The updated document underscores how intelligence officials are still putting together the pieces on how COVID-19 emerged, according to The Wall Street Journal. 

In a tweet, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) called for the Biden administration to declassify government documents that reportedly led Energy Department scientists to believe COVID escaped from a Wuhan lab.

Classified documents leaked (they should be declassified!) showing scientists at DOE believe COVID leaked from Wuhan Lab https://t.co/glETIVPe5z

— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 27, 2023

The National Intelligence Council, which conducts long-term strategic analysis, and four agencies still assess with "low confidence" that the virus came about through natural transmission from an infected animal, The Journal reported. 

Noted Georgetown University law professor Jonathan Turley noted recently in his online blog, "Many will be exploring why the scientific evidence of a lab leak was so slow to emerge from intelligence agencies. However, for my part, the most alarming aspect was the censorship, not the science."

The lab leak theory has often been attributed to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China over the last few years. Without evidence to back up their own opinions, many government officials, scientists, and social media companies called the idea of a lab leak a "conspiracy theory" or labeled it as "disinformation." 

Meanwhile, other world governments and their intelligence services have continued to investigate COVID's true origin. 

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As CBN News reported in June of 2021, British intelligence services said the theory of a lab leak was "feasible." One British intelligence officer told The London Times, "There might be pockets of evidence that take us one way, and evidence that takes us another way. The Chinese will lie either way. I don't think we will ever know." 

But evidence supporting the lab leak theory continues to trickle out. 

A medical doctor and a former scientist also went on the record in June of 2021 saying "the COVID-19 pathogen has a genetic footprint that had never been observed in a natural coronavirus."

The Chinese government has refused to cooperate in the investigation into the source of the virus which has now reportedly killed 6,850,594 people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization.