COVID-19 origins: primary documents
Primary source transcriptions from the government FOIA record on COVID-19 origins. Documents are presented in chronological order. Each document is identified by its source and release mechanism. The documents say what they say. Where the record is incomplete or disputed, that is noted. This page does not assert a conclusion about COVID-19's origin. It presents the primary source documents that inform that question.
Email from Kristian Andersen, Scripps Research Institute, to Anthony Fauci, Director NIAID. January 31, 2020. Released via FOIA to BuzzFeed News, June 2021. Portions were redacted in the initial release. Unredacted context established by House Oversight Committee release, January 2022.
From: Kristian Andersen
To: Anthony Fauci
Date: January 31, 2020
Subject: [RE: Science: Paper on Novel Coronavirus]
Hi Tony,
Some of the features (potentially) look engineered. [...] Eddie, Bob, Mike and myself all find the genome inconsistent with expectations from evolutionary theory. But we have to look at this very carefully and I am sure that you'll understand that we need to be careful about what we say [...] The unusual features of the virus make up a really small part of the genome (<0.1%) so one has to look really closely at all of the sequences to see that some of the features (potentially) look engineered.
[...] I think the main thing still in question is whether [REDACTED]. The main critters Kristian, Andrew, Bob and myself need to look at are [REDACTED].
Kristian
Note: On February 1, 2020, the day after this email, Fauci and NIH Director Francis Collins convened a conference call with Andersen and at least eleven other virologists to discuss the concerns raised. On February 4, Andersen began drafting what would become the Proximal Origin paper. By March 17, 2020, the paper was published stating that lab origin was not scientifically plausible. Andersen was a co-author. He has since stated the email reflects his initial concern before completing analysis and that the paper reflects his final scientific conclusion.
Source: FOIA release to BuzzFeed News, June 2021. DocumentCloud: leopold-nih-foia-anthony-fauci-emails.
Letter from House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Members Comer and Jordan with notes on unredacted email content, January 11, 2022. Source: oversight.house.gov.
On February 1, 2020, Drs. Fauci, Collins, and at least eleven other scientists convened a conference call to discuss COVID-19. On the conference call, Drs. Fauci and Collins were first warned that COVID-19 may have leaked from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and may have been intentionally genetically manipulated. [...]
The emails reveal that after the February 1st conference call, at least two scientists who participated in that call drafted a paper the next day titled "The Proximal Origin of SARS-CoV-2." [...]
Emails show that Drs. Fauci and Collins saw and further edited the paper. [...]
On February 8, 2020, Dr. Jeremy Farrar, Director of Wellcome Trust, sent Drs. Fauci and Collins a nearly final version of the paper for comment. [...]
Emails also reveal that on February 4, 2020, Dr. Andersen sent a draft to Dr. [REDACTED] stating that the paper's goal was "to counter the unfounded conspiracy theories about COVID-19's origins." [...]
Source: House Committee on Oversight and Reform, letter with unredacted email notes, January 11, 2022. oversight.house.gov.
EcoHealth Alliance grant proposal to DARPA, submitted March 2018. Titled "DEFUSE: Defusing the Threat of Bat-borne Coronaviruses." Requesting $14.1 million. Released by whistleblower via DRASTIC Research, September 21, 2021. EcoHealth Alliance president Peter Daszak did not dispute authenticity. Confirmed by subsequent USRTK FOIA release of USGS records (1,417 pages).
We will [...] sequence the spike (S) proteins from novel bat SARSr-CoV to identify strains with greater human ACE2 receptor binding to facilitate prioritization for cell culture or in vivo experimentation. [...]
We will introduce appropriate human-specific cleavage sites and evaluate growth potential of the [chimeric viruses] in Vero E6 cells and HAE cultures [...] to more rapidly screen candidate live-attenuated vaccines. [...]
[We will] synthetically construct [...] spike proteins incorporating [...] proteolytic cleavage sites. [...]
Insertion of furin cleavage sites at S1/S2 boundaries [...] to determine whether changes in cleavage phenotype affect pathogenesis and infection efficiency in bats and human airway cells. [...]
We will [...] analyze entry using our spike chimeras in human airway epithelial cells. [...]
The proposed work will be carried out in collaboration with [...] Wuhan Institute of Virology [...] University of North Carolina Chapel Hill [...] Duke-NUS [...] EcoHealth Alliance. [...]
DARPA rejection note: DARPA rejected this proposal in 2018. The DARPA program manager's notes, released alongside the proposal, cited concerns that the research "does not fully comply with [dual use research of concern] guidelines" and that "the proposed SARS-CoV-related work is particularly concerning given the potential for the creation of a dangerous pathogen." SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, has a furin cleavage site at the S1/S2 boundary of its spike protein, a feature never previously documented in any natural SARS-related betacoronavirus.
Source: DRASTIC Research, September 21, 2021. drasticresearch.org/2021/09/21/the-defuse-project-documents/. Confirmed: USRTK FOIA release of USGS records, 2022.
Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Declassified Summary of Assessment on COVID-19 Origins. Released June 2023 pursuant to the COVID-19 Origin Act (Public Law 118-8, signed March 20, 2023). Source: dni.gov.
The IC [Intelligence Community] assesses that SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, most likely emerged and infected humans through one of two scenarios but has not reached a definitive conclusion on the ultimate origins of COVID-19: [...]
The first scenario involves natural transmission from an animal to a human. The second scenario involves a laboratory-associated incident, most likely involving experimentation, animal handling, or sampling by the Wuhan Institute of Virology. [...]
Two IC elements assess with low confidence that the first scenario , natural origin , is more likely. [...]
One IC element assessed with moderate confidence and another with low confidence that the second scenario , a laboratory-associated incident , is more likely. [...]
Three IC elements and the National Intelligence Council assess that both scenarios are plausible but have not been able to make a more definitive assessment. [...]
The IC assesses that SARS-CoV-2 was not developed as a biological weapon. The IC also assesses that most IC elements assess that SARS-CoV-2 was not genetically engineered. [...]
China's cooperation most likely would be needed to reach a more definitive conclusion [...]. The IC continues to assess that China has not been fully transparent about its COVID-19 research programs and early outbreak data. [...]
On the FBI and DOE assessments specifically: FBI Director Christopher Wray publicly confirmed on February 28, 2023, that the FBI had assessed that COVID-19's origins were most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan, with moderate confidence. This was the FBI's position prior to the June 2023 ODNI release. The Department of Energy's assessment, first reported by the Wall Street Journal on February 26, 2023, concluded lab incident was most likely, with low confidence. The underlying intelligence assessments, technical annexes, and raw intelligence informing these conclusions were not included in the declassified summary.
Source: ODNI Declassified Summary of Assessment on COVID-19 Origins, June 2023. dni.gov/files/ODNI/documents/assessments/Declassified-Assessment-on-COVID-19-Origins.pdf
The documents above confirm: a leading coronavirus genomicist privately told Fauci that COVID-19 features potentially look engineered on January 31, 2020; a secret conference call was held the next day; the same researcher co-authored a public paper days later stating lab origin was not scientifically plausible; congressional investigation established that the paper's drafting was coordinated with Fauci's office; a 2018 U.S. grant proposal described inserting furin cleavage sites into bat coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology and was rejected on gain-of-function grounds; the FBI assessed lab incident as the most likely origin with moderate confidence; the Department of Energy reached the same conclusion with low confidence.
What remains unreleased: the underlying intelligence assessments, technical annexes, and raw intelligence that informed agency conclusions; the unredacted versions of the February 1, 2020 conference call agenda and participant notes; all NIAID and NIH correspondence related to EcoHealth Alliance's WIV subgrant; the full record of what research was conducted at the Wuhan Institute of Virology under EcoHealth Alliance grants between 2014 and 2019.
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