The United States is to launch an investigation into the activities of more than 120 biological laboratories overseas that have been funded by American taxpayers for decades, according to Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence.
Speaking to the New York Post, Gabbard claimed that dangerous pathogen research may have been conducted at the facilities. She accused the Biden administration of “lying to the American people about the existence of these US-funded and US-operated biolabs” and of threatening those who had tried to disclose the truth.
Gabbard said her team intended to “locate these labs, determine what pathogens are stored there, and identify what kind of “research” is being carried out.”
According to the intelligence chief, more than 40 of the labs under scrutiny are located in Ukraine. The administration of former US president Joe Biden had consistently denied the presence of any Washington-controlled chemical or biological laboratories in the country.
“The Covid-19 pandemic revealed the catastrophic global consequences that research into dangerous pathogens in biological laboratories can have,” Gabbard added.
Russia and China have previously accused the United States of funding biolabs in neighbouring countries, alleging that elements of biological weapons were being developed there – including in Ukraine. Both the US and Ukraine have denied those claims. Following the outbreak of war in February 2022, they characterised the allegations as part of a Russian attempt to justify its military operation in Ukraine.
