Federal investigators want to know if U.S. tax dollars have directly or indirectly supported research in China into enhancing pathogens capable of causing worldwide pandemics, such as the COVID-19 outbreak that killed more than 1 million Americans in 2020 and 2021.
The investigation seeks to “determine the extent to which the [Department of Defense] awarded federal funds directly or indirectly through grants, contracts, sub-grants, subcontracts, or any other type of agreement or collaboration, during the 10-year period from 2014 through 2023, to Chinese research labs or to fund research or experiments in China or other foreign countries designed to enhance pathogens of pandemic potential,” according to Department of Defense Inspector General Robert Storch.
Mr. Storch’s comment came in an April 2 letter to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) that the two lawmakers made public on Wednesday. They had initially asked the Department of Defense (DOD) inspector general in January 2024 about the issue of federal funds going to support such research.
The investigation was mandated by Section 252 of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). The two Republican lawmakers introduced amendments in their respective chambers to the NDAA concerning the investigation.
Ms. Ernst and Mr. Gallagher have been pushing officials at the DOD, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and other federal departments since the COVID-19 pandemic to come clean about links to Chinese biomedical research activities.
Tracking the Funds
In an April 24 statement, Ms. Ernst said the DOD should defend the United States, not support research with the potential to harm the nation.
“While bureaucrats are blindly giving away taxpayer funds, China doesn’t even have to steal our research. It’s clear Americans deserve a detailed inventory of all the dangerous dollars sent overseas, which is why I’ve launched an investigation to track down every cent,” she said.
“We may never get answers about what really happened in Wuhan from Dr. Fauci, EcoHealth, or China, but this investigation enables us to pinpoint where another man-made pandemic could possibly originate and prevent that from happening. As more evidence emerges that our own tax dollars are advancing the interests of our adversaries, it’s clear we need greater transparency and accountability of how, why, and especially where our money is going,” she continued.
In her statement, the Iowa Republican pointed to a recent analysis by auditors at Open The Books that found the DOD provided nearly $52 million to Chinese firms, including a $6 million contract for development services on the U.S. military’s command software program.
“Empty rhetoric can often seem like its own Beltway pathogen, but today Senator Ernst has made a serious contribution to the health and security of every American. Whatever one may think about the controversy over COVID-19’s origins, it has brought into focus risky viral research that has become common practice for scientists and often funded with taxpayer dollars,” he said.
Every Dime, in Real Time
Mr. Andrzejewski’s group is a nonprofit organization that compiles and publishes virtually all spending data from federal and state governments, as well as major municipal authorities, on the internet.The group describes its purpose as publishing “every dime, online, in real time.”
Ms. Ernst named the DOD as the recipient of her April 2024 Squeal Award, a monthly “prize” she publicizes to draw public attention to waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.
“We commend Sen. Ernst for demanding answers about whether the Pentagon shipped taxpayers’ money to an adversary’s unaccountable animal labs for dangerous virus experiments that threaten public health and national security,” WCWP’s senior vice president, Julian Goodman, is quoted as saying in the senator’s statement.
“Four years ago, we first exposed secretive taxpayer funding for EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan lab’s treacherous gain-of-function animal experiments that violated U.S. policies and that experts believe created COVID. There’s stunning evidence that Dr. Anthony Fauci, EcoHealth, and the Chinese government tried to cover it up and that EcoHealth planned to sneakily funnel Pentagon funds to the CCP-run Wuhan animal lab for coronavirus engineering experiments,” Mr. Goodman continued.
EcoHealth Responds
In a lengthy statement to The Epoch Times, an EcoHealth Alliance spokesman rigorously denied having used any U.S. funds it received from DOD, HHS, or other federal agencies to support research in China on pathogens known to be capable of causing deadly pandemics among humans.“Mr. Goodman states, ‘Four years ago, we first exposed secretive taxpayer funding for EcoHealth Alliance and the Wuhan lab’s treacherous gain-of-function animal experiments that violated U.S. policies and that experts believe created COVID.’ This research funding is not ’secretive'—it was and is a matter of public record, as are all projects supported by funding awards from the National Institutes of Health.
“Further to this, EcoHealth Alliance did not support ‘gain-of-function’ research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), nor were any policies violated. Any assertions to the contrary are based either on misinterpretation, or willful misrepresentation of the actual research conducted.
“The NIH defines ‘gain-of-function’ as research that will create new viral strains with ‘enhanced transmissibility or virulence’ for viruses that are already (1) ‘likely highly transmissible and likely capable of wide and uncontrollable spread in human populations;’ and (2) ‘likely highly virulent and likely to cause significant morbidity and/or mortality in humans.’ Because the SARS-related research conducted by EcoHealth Alliance and the WIV dealt with bat coronaviruses that had never been shown to infect people, let alone cause significant morbidity and/or mortality in humans, by definition it was not gain-of-function research.
