Washington The US intelligence community has concluded that the coronavirus is neither of human origin nor genetically modified, but investigations into the origins of the epidemic are underway, said the office of the director of national intelligence (ODNI) on Thursday. ).

The entire intelligence community has always provided essential support to American policy makers and those who have responded to the COVID-19 virus, which originated in China, ODNI said in a statement. The intelligence community also agrees with the broad scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not created by humans or genetically modified.

ODNI said the intelligence community will continue to scrutinize emerging information and intelligence to determine if the epidemic started through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident in a laboratory in Wuhan .

The statement comes amid growing questions about whether the U.S. intelligence community is being unduly pressured by policymakers to identify a link between the origin of the virus and infectious disease research facilities. in China.

American intelligence agencies have been exploring, but did not find any concrete evidence to support it, a theory that the coronavirus escaped from a Chinese laboratory. The possibility that the virus is from bioengineering rather than natural origin has been ruled out by government officials and scientists, a position reiterated on Thursday by ODNI.

More than 61,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, and more than a million have been infected, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Senior administration officials, including President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have blamed Beijing in recent weeks for hiding the first data on the spread of the virus in China, which they say has hindered effective global response.

In one interview with Reuters Trump said on Wednesday that Chinas management of the epidemic was due in part to the desire to see him lose his re-election in November, and that his administration weighed undetermined consequences. There are a lot of things I can do, he said.

Pompeo, a well-known Chinese hawk, accused China of continued obfuscation and hinted at future measures to hold it responsible for the losses caused by the pandemic.

I am still concerned that the Chinese Communist Party is not telling us about everything that is going on in all the laboratories, in fact each of the laboratories, all over China today, he said in a statement. communicated. interview with Fox News.

The New York Times reported Pompeo was part of a group of senior administration officials who urged intelligence agencies to obtain information on the origins of the virus on Thursday.

Analysts would generally be responsible for presenting the information they have collected in a factual and apolitical manner, and it would be incumbent on intelligence community leaders to appeal to policy makers who publicly overestimate or distort the information they have received.

It is not uncommon for a white house to charge the IC on issues that are sometimes politically charged, said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA senior operations officer who retired last spring. What is essential is that CI analysts be allowed to carry out an all-source assessment, without political interference.

In the end, whatever the analytical conclusion reached, often the White House political actors may not be satisfied, he added. Its better to do it right, every time.

Source > https://www.cbsnews.com/news/coronavirus-us-intelligence-community-china-odni/

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international community of the United States declares that the coronavirus "is neither of human origin nor genetically modified" - The Press...