OAN’s Abril Elfi
11:35 AM – Tuesday, December 19, 2023
Documents recently revealed that American researchers concealed their intentions to conduct high-risk coronavirus research in Wuhan, China, from the Pentagon back in 2018.
Reportedly, the Wuhan Institute of Virology and U.S. scientists collaborated on the research proposal, which was named “Project DEFUSE,” sparking questions regarding the COVID-19 pandemic’s origins.
According to the report, the virus experiments were “proposed to occur in part in Wuhan with fewer safety precautions than required in the US — apparently to save on costs.”
“American scientists at the center of the ‘lab leak theory’ controversy appear to have concealed this from their desired funder — the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency — in order to evade any national security concerns about doing high-level biosecurity work in China,” according to the report by USRTK.
The documents stated that American scientists like Ralph S. Baric and Peter Daszak, among others, purposely lied about their plans to conduct high-risk coronavirus research in Wuhan with lax safety regulations.
To ease the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s concerns, Daszak reportedly clarified that a large portion of the work would be conducted in Wuhan but left out crucial information from the formal proposal.
In an attempt to conceal the involvement of Chinese researchers and sidestep issues related to national security, Daszak attempted to minimize the proposal’s non-U.S. focus.
The DEFUSE proposal was never disclosed to the public until it was later leaked.
According to the documents that the watchdog group U.S. Right To Know obtained, the experiments were designed to demonstrate the “viability of applying high-risk techniques to more deadly viruses,” such as Nipah, Marburg, Ebola, and Hendra.
Stay informed! Receive breaking news blasts directly to your inbox for free. Subscribe here. https://www.oann.com/alerts