The nuanced finding suggests the agency believes the totality of evidence makes a lab origin more likely than a natural origin. But the agency’s assessment assigns a low degree of confidence to this conclusion, suggesting the evidence is deficient, inconclusive or contradictory.
The CIA under Trump is backing the “theory” Trump wants them to back. What a shock.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this was the conclusion reached under Biden.
It was not a conclusion then and it is not even one now. As the article says, they are calling this “low confidence.”
“The finding is not the result of any new intelligence, and the report was completed at the behest of the Biden administration and former CIA director William Burns.”
- from the 2nd paragraph of the Guardian article
I’m not arguing for the claim, only stating that I think this is the result of Biden’s administration.
Here, let me correct you: you’re wrong. The genome sequence indicates it was from the wild. Mutations would have been acquired upon cultivation in vitro that would have shown up in the genome sequence and that was not the case. The biology doesn’t lie, but people sure do. Just read it for yourself.
That’s not correct. This is the origin report under the Biden administration from the Intelligence Community. This is the summary:
[…] the IC was able to reach broad agreement on several other key issues. We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon. Most agencies also assess with low confidence that SARS-CoV-2 probably was not genetically engineered; however, two agencies believe there was not sufficient evidence to make an assessment either way. Finally, the IC assesses China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged.
After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, though, the IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19. All agencies assess that two hypotheses are plausible: natural exposure to an infected animal and a laboratory-associated incident.
Four IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess with low confidence that the initial SARS-CoV-2 infection was most likely caused by natural exposure to an animal infected with it or a close progenitor virus—a virus that probably would be more than 99 percent similar to SARS-CoV-2. These analysts give weight to China’s officials’ lack of foreknowledge, the numerous vectors for natural exposure, and other factors.
One IC element assesses with moderate confidence that the first human infection with SARS-CoV-2 most likely was the result of a laboratory-associated incident, probably involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. These analysts give weight to the inherently risky nature of work on coronaviruses.
Analysts at three IC elements remain unable to coalesce around either explanation without additional information, with some analysts favoring natural origin, others a laboratory origin, and some seeing the hypotheses as equally likely.
Variations in analytic views largely stem from differences in how agencies weigh intelligence reporting and scientific publications and intelligence and scientific gaps.
The IC judges they will be unable to provide a more definitive explanation for the origin of COVID-19 unless new information allows them to determine the specific pathway for initial natural contact with an animal or to determine that a laboratory in Wuhan was handling SARS-CoV-2 or a close progenitor virus before COVID-19 emerged.
Step 1: order release of report from previously, publically
Step 2: order it to be modified secretly and redact all parts not supporting your theory before release
Step 3: Desired theory is now “corroborated”
But the CIA would never lie and doesn’t have a century long history of doing nothing but lying and only releasing the half truth a half century later right??
I didn’t trust the CIA in the first place, but given their low confidence in this conclusion and the fact that Trump ordered it released, it’s essentially journalistic malpractice to publish this article.
It doesn’t matter where it came from! It doesn’t change the fact that our government left us to die, and corporations picked over our remains. As humanity grows so does the possibility of new diseases. Covid was almost the perfect test disease for modern nations to experience. Deadly enough to have to be taken seriously, but not deadly enough to be uncontrollable. We could have stopped the spread in 14 days. But stopping the flow of private money was unthinkable for even one day, so doors stayed open and the disease flourished. If covid was more deadly the world would have crumbled to ground because the wealthy and powerful can’t imagine losing one cent of profit. Even if that means losing billions of lives.
You know what is true? The Trump admin had a hand in making the outbreak far worse, both in China and in the US. Doesn’t really matter if the origin is natural or manmade if you completely fumble the ball in a response. This is a very lame attempt to push a blame game back on China again.
The CIA now believes the virus responsible for the coronavirus pandemic most likely originated from a laboratory, according to an assessment released on Saturday that points the finger at China even while acknowledging that the spy agency has “low confidence” in its own conclusion.
A low confidence finding essentially means the evidence to support that theory is incomplete or questionable.
Aside from the fact that even the CIA doesn’t believe this, isn’t this the same shit we talked about 2 years ago?
