Gabbard Releases Classified Files on US-Funded Biolabs in Ukraine and Other Countries
Outgoing US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard caused an international stir by releasing classified material on a network of hundreds of bio-laboratories funded by the United States in more than 30 foreign countries. She accused senior Biden administration officials, national security figures and medical authorities, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, of having “lied to the American people” about the labs.
According to the material she released, roughly one-third of the labs are in Ukraine, in cities including Kharkiv, Dnipro, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Chernihiv. The disclosure has drawn particular attention because of the war with Russia, which critics say increases the risk that the facilities could be breached or expose dangerous substances. The pathogens mentioned in the labs include anthrax, plague, swine flu, tularemia, tuberculosis, and deadly viruses such as Ebola, Marburg and SARS.
Gabbard said the release followed a presidential order from Donald Trump on so-called gain-of-function research, work meant to make viruses more contagious or more virulent. She argued that some of the facilities had been involved in such research with only minimal oversight. Biosecurity experts countered that the facilities were never secret and said the program is a long-running effort that began in the Soviet era to reduce biological threats and convert former weapons labs into civilian research sites.
Russian officials have used the information to claim that the United States is developing biological weapons in Ukraine. US intelligence officials called that a “misleading narrative” and said it was Russian disinformation. Biden administration officials have previously acknowledged that Ukraine has biological research facilities and said they feared Russian forces might try to seize them. Gabbard is expected to leave her post on June 19 to help care for her husband, but the revelation is expected to continue reverberating in Washington and beyond.
