Joco Today

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall has requested a federal investigation into the U.S. Intelligence Community's (IC) assessment of COVID-19 origins, following revelations from a Department of Defense whistleblower. The whistleblower provided records indicating that the IC had access to evidence suggesting the virus may have originated in a laboratory at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV).

Senator Marshall sent these records to Thomas Monheim, Inspector General of the IC, urging an inquiry into potential conflicts of interest among Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) staff and private scientific advisors involved in the assessment process. He raised concerns about whether these individuals might have censored information related to a laboratory origin.

“Witnesses claim that during the ODNI-led investigation, conflicted individuals may have censored the laboratory-origin related intelligence and, if true, this signals an alarming breach of integrity in the investigative process," stated Senator Marshall.

The senator highlighted new evidence from DoD indicating that in July 2021, classified access was available to a research plan known as Project DEFUSE. This proposal was submitted by EcoHealth Alliance and WIV to DARPA in March 2018 and could have potentially produced a synthetic coronavirus resembling SARS-CoV-2.

“The new records from DoD validate that ODNI and the IC experts had access to the DEFUSE proposal and budget records," said Senator Marshall. He called for an investigation to determine if evaluations were obstructed or misdirected.

Additionally, Senator Marshall referenced two studies conducted in China before the pandemic which suggested that Chinese scientists did not view bat coronaviruses as likely threats for outbreaks in Wuhan. A 2019 study ranked coronavirus low on zoonotic threat lists, while another study used blood samples from Wuhan residents due to perceived low exposure risk.

Senator Marshall’s letter to Inspector General Monheim is available for public viewing.