Newly released emails from the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard on the origins of COVID-19 raise serious questions about what the U.S. government knew about coronavirus research before the pandemic and why key federal agencies resisted turning over records for years.
The documents, obtained by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), reveal extensive contacts between U.S. intelligence officials and leading coronavirus researchers dating back to 2015. Meanwhile, federal health officials privately discussed the possibility of a laboratory accident, while publicly insisting that such concerns were unfounded.
The disclosures add weight to Paul’s long-standing accusation that federal agencies misled the public and Congress about their own involvement with high-risk coronavirus research. The emails include early outreach from the CIA and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence to University of North Carolina virologist Ralph Baric. Baric is internationally known for his work with SARS-like coronaviruses and has long-standing ties to researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The records show that intelligence officials contacted him as far back as September 2015 to discuss a project involving the evolution of the coronavirus and potential human adaptation, showing the intelligence community was far more engaged in coronavirus research than previously acknowledged.
One of the most startling revelations involves Baric’s internal presentation to intelligence officials in January 2020, as the outbreak in Wuhan was gaining international attention. According to Paul, Baric’s slide deck included a section titled “Origins” that outlined the possibility of a laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. At the same time, federal health officials dismissed the lab leak hypothesis in public statements and encouraged media outlets to treat it as fringe speculation. Paul said the contradictions between private discussions and public messaging reflect a broader pattern in which federal officials shaped the narrative rather than followed the evidence.
The documents also show that federal officials attempted to shield their communications from scrutiny. Paul released evidence that Dr. Anthony Fauci instructed staff to delete emails on multiple occasions in 2020, despite publicly testifying that he had never deleted federal records. In one message dated February 2, 2020, Fauci wrote, “Please delete this email after you read it.” A similar instruction was given in July 2020. Paul said these messages raise concerns about possible violations of federal records laws and call into question the integrity of the government’s pandemic response.
The emails and letters include references to the 2018 DEFUSE proposal, a grant application submitted by EcoHealth Alliance and its partners, including Baric and the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The proposal sought federal funding for experiments involving the insertion of novel cleavage sites into bat coronaviruses. Although the proposal was rejected, Paul said at least fifteen federal agencies were aware of it. He argued that the broad awareness inside the government made it impossible for officials to credibly claim ignorance of research that closely resembled the characteristics of SARS-CoV-2.
Paul’s office provided a summary of the most significant information contained in the newly released documents:
• A September 10, 2015, email from CIA and ODNI officials asking to speak with Baric about a project related to coronavirus evolution and possible human adaptation.
• A January 2020 request for Baric to brief the Biological Sciences Experts Group, which operates within the National Counterproliferation Center under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
• Baric’s January 29, 2020, PowerPoint presentation to U.S. intelligence personnel, which included a slide describing a possible laboratory accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, contradicting public claims that a lab leak was not plausible.
• Emails showing that Fauci instructed staff to delete communications during the early stages of the pandemic, raising concerns about compliance with federal recordkeeping laws.
• Evidence that U.S. agencies were aware of the DEFUSE proposal, which described research plans involving engineered cleavage sites and advanced coronavirus manipulation.
• Documentation that multiple agencies failed to produce requested records to congressional investigators, even when the materials were unclassified.
Paul said the documents paint a troubling picture of intelligence officials and senior federal scientists who were aware of key risks and research proposals but did not disclose them to the public or even to Congress. He said the internal discussions about a possible lab accident show that federal officials were considering scenarios privately that they actively worked to dismiss publicly. He also stated that the evidence that Fauci instructed staff to delete emails raises serious questions about transparency within the National Institutes of Health during critical decision-making periods.
His letter to ODNI demands full document production, including emails, internal memos, meeting records, and drafts of scientific assessments. Paul said he believes significant gaps remain in the public record and that agencies have resisted releasing materials that would reveal inconsistencies in early pandemic messaging.
The newly obtained records also revive scrutiny of the U.S. government’s relationship with EcoHealth Alliance, which collaborated with the Wuhan Institute of Virology on research involving bat coronaviruses. Although officials initially rejected the DEFUSE proposal, Paul noted that several elements of the proposed research overlap with characteristics found in SARS-CoV-2. He said the wide distribution of the proposal within the federal government suggests that multiple agencies had enough information to evaluate the risks years before the pandemic emerged, but none sounded the alarm.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said that intelligence agencies found no evidence that the virus was engineered, but multiple agencies have publicly stated that a laboratory accident is possible. Paul said the new documents challenge the completeness of those assessments by showing that federal officials had more information about coronavirus manipulation than they disclosed.
ODNI has not issued a public response to Paul’s letter. Paul said he intends to pursue the investigation until all relevant documents are released. He said the American public deserves a full accounting of what federal agencies knew, when they knew it, and whether decisions made behind closed doors shaped the early pandemic narrative.
Paul said the latest emails show why transparency has been difficult to obtain. He said the evidence of deleted messages, secret briefings, and conflicting internal assessments suggests that the federal government sought to manage public perception rather than present a complete and accurate picture of the risks.
