PoliticoUS officials probe threat of coronavirus bioweapon
- Pentagon and intelligence community are throwing more resources at possibility that adversaries will deploy virus against US targets
- Change reflects evolving understanding of virus and its risks, but does not mean officials believe it was created to be weaponised
This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Natasha Bertrand, Daniel Lippman and Lara Seligman on politico.com on April 23, 2020.
The Pentagon and the intelligence community are more forcefully investigating the possibility that adversaries could use the novel coronavirus as a bioweapon, according to defence and intelligence officials, in a shift that reflects the national security apparatus’ evolving understanding of the virus and its risks.
Officials emphasised that the change does not mean they believe the virus was purposefully created to be weaponised – the intelligence community is still investigating the virus’ potential origins, but there is currently no hard intelligence or scientific evidence to support the theory that it spread from a lab in China, people briefed on the matter said.
Meanwhile, the intelligence community has also begun gaming out the potential for bad actors to weaponise the virus, particularly against high-level targets, and the Defence Department has recently shifted its focus toward monitoring the possibility more closely, said three people familiar with the matter.
The Pentagon’s Chemical and Biological Defence programme, which plays a key role in executing the DOD strategy for countering weapons of mass destruction, continues to support DHA, HHS and FEMA Covid-19 countermeasures like testing, vaccines, masks, mask filters, and screening machines, said Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Mike Andrews.