Brennan sees ‘hung jury’ among intelligence community on COVID origins

Former CIA Director John Brennan said he sees a “hung jury” among U.S. intelligence agencies about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic in the aftermath of FBI Director Christopher Wray saying his agency believes it was “most likely” a result of a laboratory leak from Wuhan, China. 

Brennan said on Wednesday in an interview on NBC’s “Today” that the theory that the outbreak of the virus originated from the lab is “a very plausible explanation,” requiring the strengthening of security and safety procedures at these types of bio-labs throughout the world. 

He said the members of the intelligence community have received the available evidence about the outbreak but have different perspectives and expertise on the origins. 

The Energy Department recently released a report concluding with “low confidence” that a lab leak caused the pandemic to start based on new intelligence. The FBI has also concluded with “moderate confidence” that a leak allowed the virus to escape, but other intelligence agencies have reached different conclusions. 

The National Intelligence Council and four other agencies reportedly believe the virus was caused naturally through transmission from an animal, while the CIA and one other agency have been unable to make a determination. 

Brennan said the Chinese government is making reaching a conclusion “with any type of certainty” difficult, but he believes a lot of “circumstantial evidence” exists, causing agencies to have different judgments. 

He said the U.S. needs to take appropriate measures and encourage China to do the same to avoid any potential leak from research labs in the future. 

Wray, who said in an interview with Fox News on Tuesday that the FBI has “for quite some time” determined that the pandemic’s origins were “most likely a potential lab incident,” also noted that China has been limiting the ability of the U.S. and the international community to investigate. 

“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government, it seems to me, has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here,” he said.