U.S. President Joe Biden has signed a bill that mandates the declassification of information related to the origins of COVID-19. Biden stated that he shares Congress's goal of disclosing as much information as possible about the origins of COVID-19, but noted that his administration will consider national security when deciding what information will be released.
In a statement, Biden said, "In implementing this legislation, my administration will declassify and share as much of that information as possible, consistent with my constitutional authority to protect against the disclosure of information that could harm national security."
The bill was unanimously passed by both the Senate and the House of Representatives before being sent to the White House.
A highly politicized debate has been taking place in Washington regarding the origins of the coronavirus since the first human case was reported in Wuhan, China, in late 2019, with calls from both Democrats and Republicans for Biden to take a stronger stance against China.
The discussion intensified last month when The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. Department of Energy believes the pandemic likely originated from a lab leak in China, a claim that Beijing denies.
The department provided its assessment "with low confidence" in a classified report. The FBI has also suggested that the pandemic may have resulted from a lab leak. However, four other U.S. agencies still consider it likely that COVID-19 resulted from natural transmission, while two have yet to make a determination.
