On Wednesday, the United States Senate voted unanimously on a bill which would declassify intelligence concerning the origin of COVID-19. Specifically, the bill requires the Director of National Intelligence to declassify all origin documents. The “COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023” bill was introduced by Republican Senators Josh Hawley and Mike Braun.
Wednesday night, the bill was passed without objection, following a Wall Street Journal report published Sunday, the Energy Department concluded the global COVID-19 pandemic likely came from a lab leak.”
Following the Energy Department’s report, the FBI Director Christopher Wray stated Monday that their agency also concluded the pandemic was the result of a lab leak in China.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray told Fox News on Tuesday. “Here you are talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab.”
Given that knowing the origin is “critical for preventing a similar pandemic from occurring in the future” and that the pandemic “may have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology,” the Senate bill calls for Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines to “declassify and make available to the public as much information as possible about the origin of COVID-19” within 90 days.
Specific information requested includes “activities performed” by the Wuhan Institute of Virology, “coronavirus research” happening prior to the outbreak, and details about researchers at the lab who “fell ill in autumn 2019.”
Senator Hawley took to Twitter to praise the bill’s passage: “Let the people see the truth!” Senator Braun called on the House to pass the bill. “The House needs to pass this bill to let the American people see the facts!” Braun tweeted Wednesday night. “President Biden can’t ignore this: time to let Americans decide for ourselves.”
The Director of National Intelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment.