U.S. intelligence said it will scrutinize in detail the flow of U.S. government money into more than 120 overseas biological research labs. The aim is to conduct a full review of whether lethal pathogen research proceeded without proper safety controls.
According to major outlets on the 13th local time, on the 11th U.S. Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard ordered a comprehensive review of U.S. government grants and research conditions at more than 120 overseas biological research labs in about 30 countries. The move follows ethics, financial, and security concerns raised over clinical trials underway outside the United States.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, from 2014 to 2023 the United States funded overseas pathogen research with $1.4 billion (about 1.9 trillion won). However, during the same period the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General could not even identify how many studies on potential pandemic pathogens (PPP) were conducted with this money.
Gabbard said in a statement that the previous Biden administration deliberately concealed the fact that dangerous pathogen research was conducted. Gabbard added, "Politicians, so‑called health experts like former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Director Anthony Fauci, and agencies under the Biden administration's national security team lied to the American people about the existence of biology labs funded by the United States," and "threatened those who sought to expose the truth."
U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said in a statement the same day, "The previous administration supported dangerous gain‑of‑function research and overseas biological labs with American taxpayer money and deliberately hid this from the American people," backing Gabbard's investigation.
President Trump, in an executive order in May last year, barred federal funding for gain‑of‑function virus research conducted without appropriate oversight. Gain‑of‑function research artificially increases a virus's transmissibility and lethality to prepare for potential future outbreaks. The approach carries persistent concerns that a pathogen leak could cause enormous harm. The executive order stated, "Dangerous gain‑of‑function research on biological vectors and pathogens has the potential to severely threaten the lives of American citizens."
Political sparring over the probe is also intensifying. The DNI said about 40 labs, accounting for one‑third of those under review, are in Ukraine. Earlier, in March 2022 when Gabbard was a private citizen, Gabbard called for the immediate closure of 25 to 30 U.S.‑funded biological labs in Ukraine and the destruction of pathogens, drawing criticism from former Republican Sen. Mitt Romney that Gabbard was "parroting Russian propaganda." Regarding the roughly 40 Ukrainian labs under investigation, the DNI said they are "exposed to the risk of information leaks amid the Russia‑Ukraine war."
Jeff Singer, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in the United States, told Newsweek on the 13th that "if the federal government subsidizes overseas laboratories with taxpayer funds, it has a responsibility as a fiduciary to verify that the research does not harm us," acknowledging the need for an investigation. By contrast, Gregory Koblentz, an associate professor and director of the biodefense graduate program at George Mason University, said, "This investigation is based on a broad disinformation campaign from Russia and China that claims U.S.‑funded labs in Ukraine developed biological weapons."