On Monday, President Joe Biden signed the Republican-sponsored bill ordering the declassification of information related to the origins of COVID-19. The bill, which passed through both the House and Senate without opposition, allows the director of national intelligence to release the information within 90 days, excluding information that would harm national security.
The president has directed the federal government to study the origins of COVID-19 and will continue to review all available information, including potential links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology. He has committed to declassifying and sharing "as much of that information as possible" in accordance with his constitutional authority.
The virus first appeared in 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, and new evidence cited by the World Health Organization contributes to the theory that the virus originated from animals. Samples collected at a Chinese seafood market in Wuhan show raccoon dog DNA comingled with the virus, and the genetic sequences were recently added by Chinese scientists to a public virus database – and then removed.
Only one of the eight agencies that investigated the link initially favored the Institute as the likely source, but the Wall Street Journal reported that the Energy Department has now shifted to support the theory that the virus leaked from the Virology Institute. Four intelligence agencies and the National Intelligence Council have concluded, with low confidence, that the virus likely spread to humans from an infected animal.
House Republicans made investigating the origins of COVID-19 one of their top priorities, and the bill is a victory for transparency. But, ultimately, the truth of the matter may never be known - and political infighting will do little to help. As Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said: "The factual grounding of the (intelligence communities’) analysis can be an antidote to the speculation, the rumor, and the theories that grow in the absence of good information.”