Last May researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory issued a top secret report which concluded the coronavirus could have originated either from natural transmission or as the result of a laboratory leak. James Rosen reports the existence of the document has been confirmed though he says he hasn’t seen it.

Researchers at Livermore’s “Z Division,” the lab’s intelligence unit, issued the report May 27, 2020, classified “Top Secret.” Its existence is previously undisclosed. The Z Division report assessed that both the lab-origin theory and the zoonotic theory were plausible and warranted further investigation. Sinclair has not reviewed the report but confirmed its contents through interviews with multiple sources who read it or were briefed on its contents.

In an email to Sinclair, a Livermore spokesperson confirmed the existence of the report but declined to provide additional information. “Because the report you are referring to is classified,” wrote Lynda Seaver, director of public affairs, “it would be inappropriate for our lab to discuss this.”…

Asked about the Z Division report, Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX), ranking member on the House foreign affairs committee, declined to comment on classified material but emphasized the need for further study. “From what I have seen and read, you absolutely cannot dismiss the notion that the WIV lab is a potential source of the virus,” McCaul said in a statement to Sinclair. “And if you listen to the leaders in the previous and current administrations, they have said exactly the same thing.”

It seemed pretty significant that the Biden administration did not back away from this possibility as it did from almost everything else connected to the Trump administration. In February a spokesman for the Director of National Intelligence told NBC News that US intelligence agencies were continuing to look at both possible explanations of the origin of the virus.

A Western intelligence official who has seen classified material told NBC News the U.S. has substantial intelligence that has not been made public about actions the Chinese government took — related to the Wuhan lab and other issues — that were designed to obscure the origins of Covid-19 and conceal its early impact. A former U.S. official who has also seen the intelligence agreed that it was significant, if inconclusive.’

In March even the Washington Post’s editorial board called for further investigation of the lab leak theory, specifically an investigation which would be independent of China’s attempts to sway the outcome.

What’s needed is an independent, multidisciplinary and unfettered investigation into the origins of the outbreak, both the zoonotic and laboratory hypotheses. China’s obduracy is not going away. The WHO, a membership organization, lacks the powers to pry open closed doors in China, and there is not another good alternative. However, Dr. Tedros could appoint a new team of highly qualified international experts, including forensic specialists, to investigate the laboratory-leak hypothesis, and forcefully insist that China not stand in its way. If he openly challenged China on this matter, he would have the support of a world wanting to know how this nightmare began and how to prevent another.

The WHO team that went to Wuhan to investigate the origin of COVID concluded natural transfer was most likely and that a lab leak was “extremely unlikely,” but even Dr. Tedros, the WHO director, pushed back on that a bit, as did the Biden administration.

Finally, there’s one more log to throw on this fire. Yesterday the former head of MI6, the British equivalent of the CIA, told a British news show that he believed the lab leak was the most likely explanation. He also called the WHO report a “farcical investigation.”

Sir Richard, who headed up the spy agency between 1999 and 2004, told Tom the World Health Organisation’s report, which said a lab leak was highly unlikely but further work was needed, was a “farcical investigation”.

While he admitted “it’s possible” the virus jumped to humans from nature, Sir Richard said: “But the fact that… it’s far more likely, if you’re a scientist, that it was put together.

“All right, put it like this… It’s a natural virus that’s been, as it were, mucked around with and the characteristics of things like the spike protein, which make it so highly infectious, also point in the direction of it being somewhat tailored.”…

Sir Richard isn’t claiming to have any special insight on this point but he did mention there were two forthcoming books which would examine the question in more depth. The video of the interview doesn’t seem to be available on YouTube so for now you’ll have to click here to watch it.