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The US intelligence community reached an inconclusive assessment about the origins of the Covid-19 virus following a 90-day investigation ordered by President Joe Biden, according to an unclassified summary of the probe released publicly on Friday.
The intelligence community is still divided about which of the two prevailing theories – that the virus came from a lab leak or that it jumped from animal to human naturally – is likely to be correct, the report found.
There is unified consensus among the intelligence agencies that the two theories are plausible, according to the report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and laboratory-associated incident," the report says.
The unclassified report was released Friday by the intelligence community after Biden had asked intelligence agencies to "redouble" their efforts to determine how the Covid-19 pandemic began. Biden, who tasked the intelligence community with declassifying as much of the report as possible, was briefed on the investigation earlier this week.
While the report failed to reach a conclusive assessment on the origin of the virus, it did knock down some theories.
The intelligence community assessed, for instance, that Covid-19 was not developed as a biological weapon, as some Republicans had suggested last year. The report says most agencies assessed with low confidence it's unlikely Covid-19 was genetically engineered, either.
Four intelligence community agencies and the National Intelligence Council assessed, with low confidence, that Covid was likely caused by natural exposure to an animal, the report says. One agency assessed with moderate confidence, however, that the first human infection most likely was the result of a lab-associated incident that "probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute."
And three agencies said they were unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information.
The intelligence report says the virus probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure.
But the report says that the intelligence community would need more information from the early days of the pandemic to provide "a more definitive explanation for the origin of Covid-19."
"The IC – and the global scientific community – lacks clinical samples or a complete understanding of epidemiological data from the earliest Covid-19 cases," the intelligence community wrote.
New Covid-19 origins intel report gives inconclusive assessment, but knocks down some theories
From CNN's Alex Marquardt and Jeremy HerbThe US intelligence community reached an inconclusive assessment about the origins of the Covid-19 virus following a 90-day investigation ordered by President Joe Biden, according to an unclassified summary of the probe released publicly on Friday.
The intelligence community is still divided about which of the two prevailing theories – that the virus came from a lab leak or that it jumped from animal to human naturally – is likely to be correct, the report found.
There is unified consensus among the intelligence agencies that the two theories are plausible, according to the report released by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
"All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and laboratory-associated incident," the report says.
The unclassified report was released Friday by the intelligence community after Biden had asked intelligence agencies to "redouble" their efforts to determine how the Covid-19 pandemic began. Biden, who tasked the intelligence community with declassifying as much of the report as possible, was briefed on the investigation earlier this week.
While the report failed to reach a conclusive assessment on the origin of the virus, it did knock down some theories.
The intelligence community assessed, for instance, that Covid-19 was not developed as a biological weapon, as some Republicans had suggested last year. The report says most agencies assessed with low confidence it's unlikely Covid-19 was genetically engineered, either.
Four intelligence community agencies and the National Intelligence Council assessed, with low confidence, that Covid was likely caused by natural exposure to an animal, the report says. One agency assessed with moderate confidence, however, that the first human infection most likely was the result of a lab-associated incident that "probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute."
And three agencies said they were unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information.
The intelligence report says the virus probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure.
But the report says that the intelligence community would need more information from the early days of the pandemic to provide "a more definitive explanation for the origin of Covid-19."
"The IC – and the global scientific community – lacks clinical samples or a complete understanding of epidemiological data from the earliest Covid-19 cases," the intelligence community wrote.
