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COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023

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COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023
Great Seal of the United States
Long titleTo require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes.
Enacted bythe 118th United States Congress
Citations
Public lawPub. L. 118–2 (text) (PDF)
Statutes at Large137 Stat. 4
Legislative history
  • Introduced in the Senate as S. 619 by Josh Hawley (R–MO) on March 1, 2023
  • Passed the Senate on March 1, 2023 (unanimous consent)
  • Passed the House on March 10, 2023 (419–0)
  • Signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 20, 2023
The COVID-19 Origin Act as it passed the Senate

The COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 is an Act of Congress that required the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) and the origin of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) no later than 90 days after the enactment of the act.[1][2][3][4][5][6]

The Biden administration released a report on June 23, 2023.[7] The declassified report rejected several key arguments made by lab leak theory proponents in the weeks leading up to the declassification. The report stated that the intelligence community remains divided, with the overall assessment from most intelligence assets (and the National Intelligence Council) being (with low confidence) that the pandemic is most likely of zoonotic origin unrelated to a laboratory leak.[7][8][9] With regards to genetic engineering of SARS-CoV-2 and similar bioweapons-related hypotheses, the report said there was near universal agreement that these had not occurred. The report went on to indicate that the US intelligence community "has no information... indicating that any WIV genetic engineering work has involved SARS-CoV-2, a close progenitor, or a backbone virus that is closely related enough to have been the source of the pandemic."[7]

References

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  1. ^ "S.619 - 118th Congress (2023-2024): COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023 | Congress.gov | Library of Congress".
  2. ^ "COVID ORIGIN ACT IS LAW: Hawley/Braun bill to declassify Wuhan lab leak intel signed | Senator Mike Braun". www.braun.senate.gov.
  3. ^ "Senate Seeks Covid Origins Information Declassification (1)". news.bloomberglaw.com.
  4. ^ Bushard, Brian. "Covid-19 Origin: House Unanimously Approves Bill To Declassify Intelligence On Wuhan Lab". Forbes.
  5. ^ Paun, Carmen (March 20, 2023). "Biden will release Covid-19 origin intelligence". POLITICO.
  6. ^ "Biden signs law declassifying US intel on Covid origin". Le Monde.fr. March 20, 2023 – via Le Monde.
  7. ^ a b c Merchant, Nomaan (June 23, 2023). "US intelligence report on COVID-19 origins rejects some points raised by lab leak theory proponents". ABC News. Archived from the original on June 24, 2023. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
  8. ^ Whitcomb, Dan (June 24, 2023). "No direct evidence COVID started in Wuhan lab, US intelligence report says". Reuters.
  9. ^ "Intelligence report says US split on Covid-19 origins". BBC News. June 24, 2023. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
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