Gabbard Reviews US Funding for Foreign Biolabs

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is reviewing more than 120 biological laboratories abroad that have been funded for years with US taxpayer money. The investigation is linked to so-called gain-of-function research, which can increase the transmissibility of viruses.

Gabbard said her team was working to identify where the labs are located, what pathogens they contain and what research is being conducted there. She added that the Covid pandemic had shown the “catastrophic global impact” that research on dangerous pathogens in biolabs can have.

More than 30 countries are under scrutiny, including Ukraine, where more than 40 of the labs are located. US officials have warned that Russia’s war could pose a security risk to facilities there.

Some of the projects were funded through the Pentagon’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which was created to help eliminate weapons of mass destruction after the end of the Cold War.

Trump’s administration also says the previous administration concealed the extent of US support for such facilities. Critics have long warned about both a lack of oversight of the research and the risks linked to work with dangerous pathogens.

(nypost, bak)