The Office of the Director of National Intelligence released its declassified assessment on the origin of COVID-19 on Friday:
Holy Friday News Dump Batman! https://t.co/uQOlRsn0yg pic.twitter.com/9jQBYPxcFb
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) October 29, 2021
Full report here:
Friday news dump: Declassified Intelligence Community's 90-day assessment of COVID's origins https://t.co/0Q526IwQl7 pic.twitter.com/YiQ9Yw5GKt
— Emily Kopp (@emilyakopp) October 29, 2021
Highlights. . .
The assessment found that “SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure that occurred no later than November 2019 with the first known cluster of COVID-19 cases arising in Wuhan, China in December 2019.”
In other words, either an accident at the lab or exposure to the virus from an encounter with an animal:
"SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, probably emerged and infected humans through an initial small-scale exposure that occurred no later than November 2019 with the first known cluster of COVID-19 cases arising in Wuhan, China in December 2019." https://t.co/RWQOhTaM5w
— Patrick-or-treat deHahn (@patrickdehahn) October 29, 2021
But they’re divided on which one it is:
"After examining all available intelligence reporting and other information, though, the IC remains divided on the most likely origin of COVID-19." Great. https://t.co/YEylxeQcFQ
— Sternbooooooerg 👻 (@joshsternberg) October 29, 2021
They did “judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon”:
US Intelligence on COVID-19: "We judge the virus was not developed as a biological weapon" – but the IC isn't sure where it came from. New report at https://t.co/soeMpMMytC pic.twitter.com/OsVGvzBqJF
— Jamie Dupree (@jamiedupree) October 29, 2021
The assessment also found that “China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged”:
"Finally, the IC assesses China’s officials did not have foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of COVID-19 emerged."https://t.co/RWQOhTaM5w
— Patrick-or-treat deHahn (@patrickdehahn) October 29, 2021
And they said China was preventing a full investigation:
.@ODNIgov's assessment of #COVID19 origins is careful and deliberate but also highly underwhelming. The summary is that both the lab-related and non-related hypotheses remain viable, that a full investigation is required, and that China is preventing that. https://t.co/k10CUsqxVv
— Jamie Metzl (@JamieMetzl) October 29, 2021
We will also note that there’s an FT tweet going viral where the headline does not match the reporting, so be warned:
This is quite literally not what the intelligence report says. There is even an infographic to prevent headlines like this.
Read the whole thing here: https://t.co/BLgRR9m3W1 https://t.co/y5clcbuJz0
— Graham Brookie (@GrahamBrookie) October 29, 2021
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