2020 U.S. Defense Intelligence Assessment Pointed to Lab Leak from Wuhan Institute of Virology

2020 U.S. Defense Intelligence Assessment Pointed to Lab Leak from Wuhan Institute of Virology

A previously classified analysis by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) that concluded early in the covid pandemic that the SARS-CoV-2 virus (the pathogen that causes the disease) could have been engineered in a Chinese laboratory—specifically, the Wuhan Institute of Virology—and later escaped, resulting in the global pandemic.

The DIA analysis, dated June 25, 2020, was kept secret and only recently released to the public following Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and litigation by US Right to Know.

The DIA assessment argues that the genome of SARS-CoV-2 is consistent with genetic manipulation, and that the Wuhan Institute of Virology had both the capability and the resources to engineer such a virus.

In my posts on the subject, I have often noted that a “furin cleavage site” associated with the virus was a key indicator of genetic manipulation. The DIA analysis notes that such sites can be inserted in the lab and that Wuhan researchers had previously proposed inserting cleavage sites into coronaviruses at the same location. The analysis also disputes claims that this feature arose naturally, as seen in some influenza viruses.

And, if you had ever wondered why the adorable pangolins were blamed for the virus, wonder no longer. The DIA analysis suggests SARS-CoV-2 was evaluated to be a hybrid (chimeric) virus, combining elements from bat and pangolin coronaviruses (a process the Wuhan lab was known to perform).

The team at U.S. Right to Know has a detailed review of the DIA assessment conducted in mid-2020, just as those of us who insisted a lab leak origin could not be discounted were being labeled as “conspiracy theorists.”

Most of the spike protein is nearly identical to the spike of another bat coronavirus called RaTG13, which was previously found by Wuhan lab researchers.

However, one small region – called the receptor binding domain – was nearly identical to a coronavirus carried by pangolins, the animals sometimes called spiny anteaters. This small section helps determine which species a coronavirus can infect.

The DIA scientists appeared concerned that this could be a sign of genetic engineering because the size and location of the pangolin-like region correspond to a region that scientists in the Wuhan lab found could convert a coronavirus that infects bats into one that infects humans.

The entire DIA review is available HERE.

John Solomon and Steven Richards of Just The News indicate that their findings were intentionally suppressed.

Sen. Roger “Doc” Marshall, R-Kan., recently provided the intelligence community’s inspector general with detailed accounts from the whistleblowers alleging the DIA research was intentionally suppressed from ODNI’s review.

“The ODNI assessment remains flawed. 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,” the senator wrote in a November letter to the IG reviewed by Just the News.

Meanwhile, FBI Director Kash Patel recently announced a significant development in the ongoing investigation into Dr. Anthony Fauci’s role and communications during the early stages of the COVID pandemic. Patel revealed that the FBI has located and seized mobile devices, including cell phones and hard drives, that Fauci used during the initial months of the pandemic while serving as head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Patel described this as a “breakthrough” in the investigation, noting that authorities had been searching for these devices for a long time and only found them within the past few days. However, he cautioned the public not to jump to conclusions about what might be found on the devices, stating that the data could be incomplete or even deleted.

“Everybody listening to us shouldn’t jump to the conclusion [that] everything’s in there. Maybe it’s deleted, maybe it’s not, but at least we found it, and at least now we can tell people that we have been looking because it is of public importance.”

Fauci has come under heavy fire since the pandemic for his flip-flopping policies on public safety, mainly by Republican stalwarts, including President Trump.

I will look forward to reporting on further developments and adding more coins to my jar.

Adding more coins. pic.twitter.com/sDdVz7Mz2Q

— Leslie Eastman ☥ (@Mutnodjmet) June 10, 2025

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