CIA Shifts Position, Says COVID More Likely Leaked from Chinese Lab

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has revised its stance on the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, now stating that it is “more likely” the virus emerged from a laboratory in China rather than from animals.

This change in assessment follows the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as the new CIA director under the second term of the Trump administration.

Ratcliffe, who previously served as the Director of National Intelligence from 2020 to 2021, made headlines this week with an interview in which he outlined a primary goal for his tenure: investigating the origins of COVID-19.

He has long supported the theory that the virus may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a leading research facility in China studying coronaviruses.

In a statement issued on Saturday, a CIA spokesperson clarified the agency’s position, saying, “CIA assesses with low confidence that a research-related origin of the COVID-19 pandemic is more likely than a natural origin based on the available body of reporting.” However, the spokesperson emphasized that both the lab-leak and natural origin theories remain plausible.

The CIA had previously refrained from making a definitive determination on how the pandemic began, keeping both options open.

This new shift in direction followed an analysis of existing intelligence, initiated by former CIA director William Burns and completed before Ratcliffe’s appointment.

In the broader U.S. intelligence community, there is a divided view on the origins of COVID-19.

Some agencies, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Energy, have expressed support for the lab-leak hypothesis, although with varying levels of certainty.

Conversely, a majority of U.S. intelligence agencies lean toward the theory that the virus emerged naturally.