Biden signs bill to release information on COVID origins
Covid-19 pandemic
March 20, 2023
President Biden on Monday signed a bipartisan bill directing the federal government to release as much information as possible about the origins of COVID-19 more than three years after the pandemic began.
The legislation, which passed unopposed by both the House and Senate, directs the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to release intelligence related to China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. It cites possible links between the research done there and the COVID-19 outbreak, which the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020. The law allows editors to protect sensitive sources and methods.
US intelligence agencies are divided over whether a lab leak or animal spillover is the likely source of the deadly coronavirus. Experts say the true origins of the pandemic, which has killed more than 1.1 million people in the US and millions more around the world, may not be known for many years to come.
Biden said in a statement that he was pleased to sign the legislation.
My administration will continue to review all classified information related to the origin of COVID19, including possible links to the Wuhan Institute of Virology, he said. In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that would harm national security.