A group with ties to the Heritage Foundation is suing the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), demanding that they produce records of an alleged investigation into the origins of COVID-19. The Oversight Project, which is a government watchdog launched by the Heritage Foundation, filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA last week. The lawsuit is seeking to force the CIA to release records relating to allegations that analysts were paid to alter their findings about the origins of the virus.
The lawsuit is based on allegations that the CIA’s COVID Discovery Team received incentives to change their conclusions on the origins of the virus. After a whistleblower testified before Congress that the agency offered payments to change findings, the Oversight Project began seeking the records. The official findings by the CIA concerning the origin of COVID-19 are inconclusive.
Assessments conducted by the Energy Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) suggest that the virus had likely leaked from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. However, five other agencies believe that it is more likely that the virus resulted from natural transmission or from animals. Members of the House investigating the origins of COVID-19 have requested more information from the CIA about its investigation.
Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup, who chairs the Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Ohio Rep. Mike Turner, who chairs the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, have issued a statement indicating that the whistleblower claims six of seven Team members believed the virus originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China. “According to the whistleblower at the end of its review, six of the seven members believed the intelligence and science were sufficient to make a low confidence assessment that COVID-19 originated from a laboratory in Wuhan, China,” they said.
The Oversight Project’s lawsuit against the CIA seeks to compel the agency to produce records of its investigation into the virus’s origin, as well as any records related to alleged incentive payments to analysts. The lawsuit was filed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), a federal law that guarantees the public the right to request access to U.S. government records. The suit asks the court to order the CIA to produce the records within 20 days and to waive or reduce any fees associated with producing the documents.
The CIA has yet to comment specifically on the Oversight Project’s lawsuit or the allegations of payments to change analysts’ conclusions. While there has been no official confirmation of the virus’s origin, investigations are ongoing into its emergence. The Oversight Project’s lawsuit is aimed at discovering information that might shed light on the virus’s source and the CIA’s internal investigations, which could impact public health.
