Thread by @joshrogin

NEW: Biden’s announcement is the beginning, not the end, of a real covid origin investigation washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/… by me @PostOpinions

Biden took an important but limited step toward a genuine investigation into the origins of covid-19... But this is just one aspect of a growing U.S. government and congressional effort to finally try to get to the bottom of how the pandemic started. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

“We are not saying that in 90 days we will have an answer or the answer, we’re saying in 90 days we are going to have an update, and then we will see where we go from there,” a senior administration official told me.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

Lawmakers want to probe the failures of the U.S. intelligence agencies, including: Why did they have no idea what was going on inside this network of Chinese labs conducting risky research? And that obviously can’t be part of the IC’s own investigation. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

Even if ironclad proof can’t be found, that doesn’t absolve us of the responsibility to keep looking. Along the way we need to completely rethink how we manage oversight of these Chinese labs and all the U.S. labs that work with them. washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

Put simply, it has become amply clear that these Chinese labs, which have a record of safety lapses, operate with little transparency and zero accountability, which means they present an ongoing risk that must be mitigated.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

Some say pursuing the lab leak investigation risks upsetting U.S.-China relations. Well, if uncovering the truth about 590,000 American deaths doesn’t warrant risking offending the delicate sensibilities of the Chinese Communist Party, what would? washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

There’s no statute of limitations on 3 million deaths worldwide. This is not going away. This is not about “blaming China.” This is about protecting our public health.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…