A new report from the Energy Department found that an accidental lab leak in China was the most likely cause of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Department of Energy concluded with “low” confidence that the coronavirus most likely came from an accidental lab leak in China. The agency previously stated that it did not know how the virus originated.
However, according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, the US government and intelligence committee have not reached a “definitive conclusion.”
“There is currently no agreement in the United States government about exactly how COVID began,” he said at a White House press briefing. “There is simply no agreement among intelligence agencies.”
According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Energy Department has joined the FBI in pinning the origin on the lab leak theory. The National Intelligence Council and four other intelligence agencies believe the route was a natural transmission from animal to human.
The Energy Department reportedly changed its assessment based on new intelligence shared with the other agencies, who did not change their positions.
When asked if the new intelligence would be made public, Kirby stated, “If we have something that we believe can be reported to Congress and the American people that we’re confident in, we will absolutely do that.”
The State Department weighed in on Monday, claiming that China has been obstructing investigations into the origins of COVID-19 for years. When asked if there are any plans to go beyond simply requesting China’s compliance, spokesman Ned Price stated that “regardless of the issue, we typically don’t get ahead of policy responses before they are announced publicly.”
