A group affiliated with the Heritage Foundation is now initiating legal proceedings against the CIA for records pertaining to its COVID-19 investigation, subsequent to allegations made by a whistleblower that analysts were paid off to alter their conclusions.
Launched by the Heritage Foundation, the Oversight Project is a government monitor that filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the CIA last week.
The petition requests that the agency provide documentation pertaining to its inquiry concerning the source of COVID-19.
The Oversight Project initiated its investigation of CIA records subsequent to the testimony of a congressional whistleblower who claimed the agency bribed its analysts in exchange for modifying their conclusions regarding the source of COVID-19.
The official findings of the CIA regarding the disease’s origin are inconclusive.
The Energy Department and the FBI have determined that a breach from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, is the most probable source of the virus.
Five additional agencies have speculated that the disease may have originated from natural transmission or from animals to humans via a damp market or another vector.
In September, House investigators into the origins of COVID-19 reported that a senior-level CIA officer claimed the agency offered monetary incentives to COVID investigators in exchange for reversing their conclusions.
The Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, both comprised of Republicans, have requested additional information from the CIA concerning its investigation.
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