COVID–19 Origin Act of 2021
Bill: S.1348 | Sponsor: Sen. Hawley, Josh (R-MO)
Policy area: Armed Forces and National Security

Summary:
COVID-19 Origin Act of 2021
This bill requires the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) to declassify all information relating to potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of COVID-19. The ODNI shall submit to Congress an unclassified report containing such information, with redactions only as necessary to protect sources and methods.

To require the Director of National Intelligence to declassify 
information relating to the origin of COVID-19, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``COVID-19 Origin Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Department of State released a fact sheet on 
        January 15, 2021, about the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) 
        which stated the following:
                    (A) ``The U.S. government has reason to believe 
                that several researchers inside the WIV became sick in 
                autumn 2019, before the first identified case of the 
                outbreak, with symptoms consistent with both COVID-19 
                and common seasonal illnesses.''.
                    (B) ``WIV researchers conducted experiments 
                involving RaTG13, the bat coronavirus identified by the 
                WIV in January 2020 as its closest sample to SARS-CoV-
                2.''.
                    (C) ``Despite the WIV presenting itself as a 
                civilian institution, the United States has determined 
                that the WIV has collaborated on publications and 
                secret projects with China's military.''.
            (2) Former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention, Robert Redfield, stated in March 2021 that, ``the 
        most likely etiology of this pathogen in Wuhan was from a 
        laboratory'' and noted that, ``[i]t is not unusual for 
        respiratory pathogens that are being worked on in a laboratory 
        to infect the laboratory worker.''.
            (3) Director-General of the World Health Organization 
        Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged in March 2021 that the 
        Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) may have originated in a 
        laboratory and said this hypothesis ``requires further 
        investigation, potentially with additional missions involving 
        specialist experts.''.

SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) identifying the origin of Coronavirus Disease 2019 
        (COVID-19) is critical for preventing a similar pandemic from 
        occurring in the future;
            (2) there is reason to believe the COVID-19 pandemic may 
        have originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology; and
            (3) the Director of National Intelligence should declassify 
        and make available to the public as much information as 
        possible about the origin of COVID-19 so the United States and 
        like-minded countries can--
                    (A) identify the origin of COVID-19 as 
                expeditiously as possible, and
                    (B) use that information to take all appropriate 
                measures to prevent a similar pandemic from occurring 
                again.

SEC. 4. DECLASSIFICATION OF INFORMATION RELATED TO THE ORIGIN OF COVID-
              19.

    Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, 
the Director of National Intelligence shall--
            (1) declassify any and all information relating to 
        potential links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the 
        origin of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), including--
                    (A) activities performed by the Wuhan Institute of 
                Virology with or on behalf of the People's Liberation 
                Army;
                    (B) coronavirus research or other related 
                activities performed at the Wuhan Institute of Virology 
                prior to the outbreak of COVID-19; and
                    (C) researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology 
                who fell ill in autumn 2019, including for any such 
                researcher--
                            (i) the researcher's name;
                            (ii) the researcher's symptoms;
                            (iii) the date of the onset of the 
                        researcher's symptoms;
                            (iv) the researcher's role at the Wuhan 
                        Institute of Virology;
                            (v) whether the researcher was involved 
                        with or exposed to coronavirus research at the 
                        Wuhan Institute of Virology;
                            (vi) whether the researcher visited a 
                        hospital while they were ill; and
                            (vii) a description of any other actions 
                        taken by the researcher that may suggest they 
                        were experiencing a serious illness at the 
                        time; and
            (2) submit to Congress an unclassified report that 
        contains--
                    (A) all of the information described under 
                paragraph (1); and
                    (B) only such redactions as the Director determines 
                necessary to protect sources and methods without 
                altering or obscuring in any way the information 
                described under paragraph (1).
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