I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3191 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify information 

relating to the origin of COVID–19, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 13, 2021 

Mr. GALLAGHER (for himself, Mr. RESCHENTHALER, Mr. STEWART, Mr. 

SMITH of Missouri, Mr. RUTHERFORD, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, 

Mr. BISHOP of North Carolina, Mr. BABIN, Mr. PERRY, Mr. WEBSTER

of Florida, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. CAWTHORN, Mr. GIBBS, Mr. HICE of Georgia, Mr. RICE of South Carolina, and Mr. GREEN of Tennessee) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Permanent Select 

Committee on Intelligence, and in addition to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify 

information relating to the origin of COVID–19, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘COVID–19 Origin Act 

5 of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress makes the following findings: 

3 (1) The Department of State released a fact 

4 sheet on January 15, 2021, about the Wuhan Insti5 tute of Virology (WIV) which stated the following: 

6 (A) ‘‘The U.S. government has reason to 

7 believe that several researchers inside the WIV 

8 became sick in autumn 2019, before the first 

9 identified case of the outbreak, with symptoms 

10 consistent with both COVID–19 and common 

11 seasonal illnesses.’’. 

12 (B) ‘‘WIV researchers conducted experi13 ments involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus 

14 identified by the WIV in January 2020 as its 

15 closest sample to SARS-CoV-2.’’. 

16 (C) ‘‘Despite the WIV presenting itself as 

17 a civilian institution, the United States has de18 termined that the WIV has collaborated on pub19 lications and secret projects with China’s mili20 tary.’’. 

21 (2) Former Director of the Centers for Disease 

22 Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, stated in 

23 March 2021 that, ‘‘the most likely etiology of this 

24 pathogen in Wuhan was from a laboratory’’ and 

25 noted that, ‘‘[i]t is not unusual for respiratory 


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1 pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory 

2 to infect the laboratory worker.’’. 

3 (3) Director-General of the World Health Orga4 nization Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowl5 edged in March 2021 that the Coronavirus Disease 

6 2019 (COVID–19) may have originated in a labora7 tory and said this hypothesis ‘‘requires further inves8 tigation, potentially with additional missions involv9 ing specialist experts.’’. 

10 SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

11 It is the sense of Congress that— 

12 (1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Dis13 ease 2019 (COVID–19) is critical for preventing a 

14 similar pandemic from occurring in the future; 

15 (2) there is reason to believe the COVID–19 

16 pandemic may have originated at the Wuhan Insti17 tute of Virology; and 

18 (3) the Director of National Intelligence should 

19 declassify and make available to the public as much 

20 information as possible about the origin of COVID– 

21 19 so the United States and like-minded countries 

22 can— 

23 (A) identify the origin of COVID–19 as ex24 peditiously as possible, and 


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1 (B) use that information to take all appro2 priate measures to prevent a similar pandemic 

3 from occurring again. 

4 SEC. 4. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO 

5 THE ORIGIN OF COVID–19. 

6 Not later than 90 days after the date of the enact7 ment of this Act, the Director of National Intelligence 

8 shall— 

9 (1) declassify any and all information relating 

10 to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Vi11 rology and the origin of the Coronavirus Disease 

12 2019 (COVID–19), including— 

13 (A) activities performed by the Wuhan In14 stitute of Virology with or on behalf of the Peo15 ple’s Liberation Army; 

16 (B) coronavirus research or other related 

17 activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of 

18 Virology prior to the outbreak of COVID–19; 

19 and 

20 (C) researchers at the Wuhan Institute of 

21 Virology who fell ill in autumn 2019, including 

22 for any such researcher— 

23 (i) the researcher’s name; 

24 (ii) the researcher’s symptoms; 


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1 (iii) the date of the onset of the re2 searcher’s symptoms; 

3 (iv) the researcher’s role at the 

4 Wuhan Institute of Virology; 

5 (v) whether the researcher was in6 volved with or exposed to coronavirus re7 search at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; 

8 (vi) whether the researcher visited a 

9 hospital while they were ill; and 

10 (vii) a description of any other actions 

11 taken by the researcher that may suggest 

12 they were experiencing a serious illness at 

13 the time; and 

14 (2) submit to Congress an unclassified report 

15 that contains— 

16 (A) all of the information described under 

17 paragraph (1); and 

18 (B) only such redactions as the Director 

19 determines necessary to protect sources and 

20 methods without altering or obscuring in any 

21 way the information described under paragraph 

22 (1). 

Æ 


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