The Heritage Foundation slams the Central Intelligence Agency for blocking the release of essential information related to COVID-19. Through the Freedom of Information Act, the institution demands the release of CIA records, which show their analysts had received monetary incentives to cover up their analysis of the origins of the virus.
A lawsuit filed by the Heritage Foundation states, “As of the date of this complaint, CIA has failed to: (i) produce the requested records or demonstrate that the records are lawfully exempt from disclosure; (ii) notify Plaintiffs of the scope of any responsive records it intends to produce or withhold and the reasons for any withholdings; or (iii) inform Plaintiffs that they may appeal any adequately specific, adverse determination.”
The lawsuit follows the investigation of a COVID-19 lab leak reported by the Wall Street Journal, which revealed that the Department of Energy had “low confidence” that the pandemic virus came from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit further said that the FOIA they requested is related to the CIA’s COVID-19 Discovery Team “regarding their pay history, to include the awarding of any type of financial or performance-based incentive or financial bonus to members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s).”
The lawsuit was filed last September 20, 2023.
The Heritage also sought data related to the creation of the discovery team and the records they have shared regarding COVID-19’s origins. The conservative group also sought the release of all communications between the analysts and officials from numerous agencies across the federal government.
The legal complaint demands the CIA produce all non-exempt records under Heritage’s prior FOIA request and to cover Heritage’s costs incurred.
Last September, a whistleblower revealed in a house investigation on the Coronavirus Pandemic that at the end of its review, six of the seven members of the discovery team said that “intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that the COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.”
Furthermore, only the seventh team member believed that “Covid-19 originated through zoonosis.”
This exposition belies the conclusion spread by a majority of U.S. intelligence agencies that the “COVID-19 pandemic mostly likely started when SARS-CoV-2 jumped from an infected animal host into people; a wildlife market in Wuhan, China, has received intense attention from researchers as the potential source.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina), Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida), and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisconsin) wrote a formal request to CIA Director William Burns on September 12 regarding the whistleblower’s expose.
The Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the COVID-19 pandemic, Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), and the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Charman Mike Turner (R-Ohio), also compelled the CIA to disclose documentation and communication about the payments.
In a letter to Burns, the Senators further said: “The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual public determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position,” they added of the analyst group, which included “experienced officers with significant scientific expertise.”
During this period, Tammy Kupperman Thorp, CIA’s Office of Public Affairs responded to inquiries and said, ” At CIA we are committed to the highest standards of analytic rigor, integrity, and objectivity. We do not pay analysts to reach specific conclusions. We take these allegations extremely seriously and are looking into them. We will keep our Congressional oversight committees appropriately informed.”
In February, the FBI exposed that the COVID-19 pandemic most likely started with a lab leak.
We know and thousand knew that Covid 19 started in Wuhan. They (China, CIA, FBI, and the WH won’t admit because……….