CIA Whistleblower’s Devastating Testimony: Spooks Paid Off Analysts to Suppress Wuhan Origins of COVID

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has plenty of explaining to do. According to the New York Post, a “senior-level CIA” whistleblower has testified to Congress that Agency leaders tried to bribe their own analysts into abandoning their conclusion that the COVID-19 pandemic originated with a lab leak in Wuhan, China. Instead, CIA higher-ups wanted their analysts to falsely assert that the virus passed from animals to humans. On Tuesday, Republican Rep. Brad Wenstrup of Ohio, Chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, and Republican Rep. Mike Turner of Ohio, Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, sent a pair of letters to current and former Agency officials. The first letter, addressed to CIA Director William J. Burns, identified “new and concerning whistleblower testimony regarding the Agency’s investigation into the origins of COVID-19.” According to the letter, the CIA assigned seven experts to a COVID Discovery Team. After reviewing evidence, six of the seven agreed that COVID-19 likely originated in the Wuhan lab. CIA leadership, however, subsequently suppressed those conclusions. “The seventh member of the Team, who also happened to be the most senior, was the lone officer to believe that COVID-19 originated through zoonosis,” the letter read. That “most senior” member went to extraordinary and corrupt lengths to ensure that his position prevailed. “The whistleblower further contends that to come to the eventual determination of uncertainty, the other six members were given a significant monetary incentive to change their position,” the letter continued. Wenstrup and Turner requested all relevant documents and communications by Sept. 26. They threatened to use “additional tools and authorities to satisfy our legislative and oversight requirements” should Burns fail to comply. The CIA COVID-19 Discovery Team’s “most senior” member was Andrew Makridis, who is no longer with the Agency. Wenstrup and Turner addressed a second letter to Makridis. This letter also referred to the “new and concerning whistleblower testimony.” In lieu of documents, however, the second letter requested a sit-down interview with Makridis. Assuming the story’s veracity, one can scarcely imagine a more damning revelation. In fact, the whistleblower’s testimony leads to one broad reflection and one obvious question. First, U.S. intelligence agencies and the deep state in general should prepare for a reckoning. Free citizens cannot tolerate abuses of power by government officials, particularly those not subject to elections. The template for accountability exists. Beginning in January 1975, Democratic Sen. Frank Church of Idaho chaired a committee tasked with investigating intelligence agencies’ abuses. The Senate Select Committee to Study Governmental Operations with Respect to Intelligence Activities, also known as the “Church Committee,” published its final report in April 1976. The Church Committee uncovered breathtaking abuses dating to the early days of the Cold War. One such abuse was the unconscionable MK-Ultra program. A CIA document described MK-Ultra as “the code name for a covert CIA mind-control and chemical interrogation research program, run by the Office of Scientific Intelligence.” Second, if CIA leaders wanted to suppress the truth about the Wuhan lab leak, the question is why. The Agency did not stand to gain anything obvious from deceiving Americans into thinking that COVID-19 originated in nature. Did the Agency stand to gain something from diverting Americans’ attention away from the Wuhan lab? Did the Agency stand to gain something from diverting Americans’ attention away from foreign biolabs in general? A second Church Committee might give us an answer. This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.