Newly released FBI emails express concerns about gain-of-function research in Wuhan that could potentially leave no trace of human manipulation

The FBI has expressed alarm over gain-of-function virus research funded by the agency formerly led by Dr. Anthony Fauci at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, which was designed in such a way that it “would leave no signature of purposeful human manipulation.” This information comes from a series of emails released by Judicial Watch, a conservative watchdog group, which obtained the documents through a Freedom of Information Act request.

The emails reveal internal communications within the FBI’s Newark Field Office from April 2020, discussing a $661,000 grant provided by Fauci’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to EcoHealth Alliance. This funding was intended for bat coronavirus research at the Wuhan lab. According to the correspondence, at least one agent described the details of the research strategy as “alarming” due to its potential to disguise a lab-created virus as naturally occurring.

Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton commented on the documents, stating, “These smoking gun documents showed the FBI quickly understood that Fauci’s agency funded the gain-of-function research that could disguise the resulting coronavirus as ‘natural.’” Fitton also called for a comprehensive criminal investigation into what he referred to as “Fauci’s gain-of-function scandal.”

The discussions in the emails center around the use of “infectious clone technology,” a method that, if performed using gene synthesis, could obscure any direct evidence of human tampering with the virus’s genetic structure. This aspect of the research was particularly concerning to the FBI, as it hinted at the potential for such techniques to be used in ways that could complicate tracking the origins of pathogens developed in the lab.

In one email, an unnamed assistant special agent in charge of national security expressed their intent to follow up on this information with their team, underscoring the seriousness with which the agency viewed the revelations. This led to further scrutiny and an official inquiry by the FBI into the National Institutes of Health’s bat coronavirus grant associated with the Wuhan lab.

The release of these documents coincides with ongoing debates and investigations into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. In March 2023, FBI Director Christopher Wray stated that the agency assesses the pandemic most likely originated from a lab incident in Wuhan. These newly disclosed emails add another layer of complexity to the understanding of early research activities at the Wuhan lab and the international scrutiny surrounding them.