London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 30, 2025

US Releases Internal Cable From 2018 On Concerns Over Wuhan Virus Lab

US Releases Internal Cable From 2018 On Concerns Over Wuhan Virus Lab

Leaked contents of the cable sparked unproven speculation from senior U.S. officials beginning in April that the outbreak occurred as a result of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. The State Department has released an internal cable from 2018 detailing the concerns of U.S. Embassy officials in China about a lack of adequately trained personnel at a virology lab in Wuhan, the city that later became the epicenter of the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Leaked contents of the cable sparked unproven speculation from senior U.S. officials beginning in April that the outbreak occurred as a result of an accident at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

In May, President Donald Trump said he had seen evidence that gave him a "high degree of confidence" that the coronavirus originated in a Chinese lab. When asked why he was confident, Trump said, "I can't tell you that. I'm not allowed to tell you that."

The entirety of the cable had not been released through official channels until this week, after The Washington Post filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit for the records. The Post sued in April after the State Department failed to produce the records in the time period required by the law.

The full cable does not strengthen the claim that an accident at the lab caused the virus to escape, nor does it exclude the possibility. However, in recent months, skepticism of the accident theory has increased in the scientific community because the genetic sequences of isolates from the bat coronaviruses known to be under research at the lab do not match those of covid-19.

The State Department cable says the lab, which U.S. officials visited in 2018, "has a serious shortage of appropriately trained technicians and investigators needed to safely operate this high-containment laboratory."

It also says that scientists in the lab were allowed to study SARS-like coronaviruses isolated from bats but were precluded from studying human-disease-causing SARS coronaviruses in their lab unless given explicit permission from a designated commission.

"I don't see any evidence to support the idea that this was released deliberately or inadvertently," said Ian Lipkin, the director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, after The Post relayed the contents of the cable. "You can't just say someone is guilty of accidentally releasing a virus. You have to prove it."

Other experts downplayed the significance of the cable's criticism of the lab's personnel qualifications. "There is a continued global challenge in maintaining the appropriately skilled workforce. All [such] facilities around the world face this challenge," said Rob Grenfell, the director of health and biosecurity at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization.

The cable is marked "SBU," for sensitive but unclassified.

This spring, after Trump's remarks about the lab, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said there is "enormous" evidence to support the theory that the coronavirus originated in the Wuhan lab.

When asked on Friday if he had evidence supporting the lab theory beyond the 2018 memo, a spokesperson did not point to a specific of piece of information but offered Pompeo's remarks from Wednesday calling on China to be transparent.

"They have destroyed samples; they've taken journalists and doctors who were prepared to talk about this and not permitted them to do what nations that want to play on a truly global scale and global stage ought to do: be transparent and open and communicate and cooperate," Pompeo said

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence has not endorsed or refuted the lab theory. In May, it issued a statement saying intelligence officials were still examining whether the virus "began through contact with infected animals or if it was the result of an accident at a laboratory in Wuhan."

The statement said the intelligence community "concurs with the wide scientific consensus that the COVID-19 virus was not man-made or genetically modified."

The rare declaration by the intelligence community followed a report in the New York Times that Trump administration officials were pushing U.S. spy agencies to support the theory that the virus came from the lab in Wuhan.

The Trump administration has accused China and the World Health Organization of failing to contain the virus and warn the rest of the world about its lethality.

More than 140,000 Americans have died of the coronavirus and nearly 3.7 million have contracted covid-19, which has forced businesses, schools and places of worship to close all around the world.

Tom Inglesby, the director of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University, said the full cable does not confirm nor deny the lab theory, and he emphasized that people should not draw too much from its claims.

"It was written in January 2018, two years before when this pandemic is judged to have started, and a great deal of change can happen within a lab like this in two years time," he said.

"Overall, my judgment continues to be that [covid-19] is consistent with a naturally occurring source," he added. "I'm very much hoping that Chinese public health officials will soon share the results of their scientific and epidemiologic investigations into the origin of [covid-19]."

The cable's contents were first reported by Washington Post columnist Josh Rogin.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Corporate America Cuts Middle Management as Bosses Take On Triple the Workload
Parents Sue OpenAI After Teen’s Death, Alleging ChatGPT Encouraged Suicide
Amazon Faces Lawsuit Over 'Buy' Label on Digital Streaming Content
Federal Reserve Independence Questioned Amid Trump’s Push to Reshape Central Bank
British Politics Faces Tumultuous Autumn After Summer of Rebellions and Rising Farage Momentum
US Appeals Court Rules Against Most Trump-Era Tariffs
UK Sought Broad Access to Apple Users’ Data, Court Filing Reveals
UK Bank Shares Dive Over Potential Tax on Sector
Germany’s Auto Industry Sheds 51,500 Jobs in First Half of 2025 Amid Deepening Crisis
Bruce Willis Relocated Due to Advanced Dementia
French and Korean Nuclear Majors Clash As EU Launches Foreign Subsidy Probe
EU Stands Firm on Digital Rules as Trump Warns of Retaliation
Getting Ready for the 3rd Time in Its History, Germany Approves Voluntary Military Service for Teenagers
Argentine President Javier Milei Evacuated After Stones Thrown During Campaign Event
Denmark Confronts U.S. Diplomat Over Covert Trump-Linked Influence in Greenland
Starmer Should Back Away from ECHR, Says Jack Straw
Trump Demands RICO Charges Against George Soros and Son for Funding Violent Protests
Taylor Swift Announces Engagement to NFL Star Travis Kelce
France May Need IMF Bailout, Warns Finance Minister
Chinese AI Chipmaker Cambricon Posts Record Profit as Beijing Pushes Pivot from Nvidia
After the Shock of Defeat, Iranians Yearn for Change
Ukraine Finally Allows Young Men Aged Eighteen to Twenty-Two to Leave the Country
The Porn Remains, Privacy Disappears: How Britain Broke the Internet in Ten Days
YouTube Altered Content by Artificial Intelligence – Without Permission
Welcome to The Definition of Insanity: Germany Edition
Just a reminder, this is Michael Jackson's daughter, Paris.
Spotify’s Strange Move: The Feature Nobody Asked For – Returns
Manhunt in Australia: Armed Anti-Government Suspect Kills Police Officers Sent to Arrest Him
China Launches World’s Most Powerful Neutrino Detector
How Beijing-Linked Networks Shape Elections in New York City
Ukrainian Refugee Iryna Zarutska Fled War To US, Stabbed To Death
Elon Musk Sues Apple and OpenAI Over Alleged App Store Monopoly
2 Australian Police Shot Dead In Encounter In Rural Victoria State
Vietnam Evacuates Hundreds of Thousands as Typhoon Kajiki Strikes; China’s Sanya Shuts Down
UK Government Delays Decision on China’s Proposed London Embassy Amid Concerns Over Redacted Plans
A 150-Year Tradition to Be Abolished? Uproar Over the Popular Central Park Attraction
A new faith called Robotheism claims artificial intelligence isn’t just smart but actually God itself
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner Purchases Third Property Amid Housing Tax Reforms Debate
HSBC Switzerland Ends Relationships with Over 1,000 Clients from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Qatar, and Egypt
Sharia Law Made Legally Binding in Austria Despite Warnings Over 'Incompatible' Values
Italian Facebook Group Sharing Intimate Images Without Consent Shut Down Amid Police Investigation
Dutch Foreign Minister Resigns Amid Deadlock Over Israel Sanctions
Trump and Allies Send Messages of Support to Ukraine on Independence Day Amid Ongoing Conflict
China Reels as Telegram Chat Group Shares Hidden-Camera Footage of Women and Children
Sam Nicoresti becomes first transgender comedian to win Edinburgh Comedy Award
Builders uncover historic human remains in Lancashire house renovation
Australia Wants to Tax Your Empty Bedrooms
MotoGP Cameraman Narrowly Avoids Pedro Acosta Crash at Hungarian Grand Prix
FBI Investigates John Bolton Over Classified Documents in High-Profile Raids
Report reveals OpenAI pitched national ChatGPT Plus subscription to UK ministers
×