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US Intel Agencies Are Reviewing Genetic Data From Wuhan Lab (cnn.com) 145

Posted by BeauHD from the origins-of-the-coronavirus dept.
ytene writes: CNN is claiming an exclusive scoop, with an article reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies have scored a massive trove of Covid-19 genetic data, which, CNN suggests, comes from the Wuhan research lab. More than the complex challenge of absorbing and understanding the "mountain" of raw data, U.S. researchers are going to have to translate the material from native Mandarin before the real work can begin. Whilst there has obviously been a lot of interest in a clear identification of the source, it isn't clear how such a revelation could have a material impact on the efficacy of vaccines or the take-up of the treatment. It might, however, give useful clues to help understand where or how the next deadly outbreak could develop. "It's unclear exactly how or when U.S. intelligence agencies gained access to the information, but the machines involved in creating and processing this kind of genetic data from viruses are typically connected to external cloud-based servers -- leaving open the possibility they were hacked," notes CNN, citing multiple people familiar with the matter.

The report also notes that senior intelligence officials are "genuinely split between the two prevailing theories on the pandemic's origins." The World Health Organization says wildlife farms in southern China are the most likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is still being investigated. According to a CNN report last month, "[S]enior Biden administration officials overseeing the 90-day review now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory."
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US Intel Agencies Are Reviewing Genetic Data From Wuhan Lab More

US Intel Agencies Are Reviewing Genetic Data From Wuhan Lab

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  • the machines involved in creating and processing this kind of genetic data from viruses are typically connected to external cloud-based servers -- leaving open the possibility they were hacked

    Or... the cloud providers in question were US-based and they were national-security-lettered into spilling their Chinese customers' beans.

    Whatever happened, another fine argument for cloud-based computing.

    • One phrase.

      GREAT FIREWALL OF CHINA!

      That's kind of the whole point of it. If there was a cloud involved it wasn't on this side.

      • Okay. So the US three-letter agency we all know and love hacked Chinese servers and stole the data then. Or some Chinese whistleblower exfiltrated the data. Whatever the case:

        - China will demand an explanation as to the source of the data. That's gonna ease international tensions for sure.
        - Cloud computing is untrustworthy, regardless of which side of the Chinese firewall it's on.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Tablizer ( 95088 )

      The value of clouding makes sense if you are a relatively small operation doing mundane business but doesn't want to pay for an IT department. The Microsoft warehouse is more likely to be on top of patching etc. than a smallish company. However, if you have highly sensitive info, it's better to run your own servers, but only if you pay for real staff to keep them secure.

      • The appeal of cloud computing is laziness. I wouldn't entrust my data to any of the current crop of cloud providers even if I was doing was bookkeeping for a potted plants business, for multiple reasons:

        - No internet? No data.
        - Cloud provider fuckup
        - Cloud provider getting hacked
        - Cloud provider being also a retailer (i.e. Amazon) and using my data to undercut my business
        - Cloud provider "monetizing" my data
        - Vendor lock-in

        Even for a small business, it's worth investing in doing your IT locally.

  • TFS/A / CNN is stating that the *data* may come from the Wuhan Lab, not necessarily COVID-19. People are reviewing the genetic data to see if they can determine if the virus was transmitted to humans in the wild or transmitted at and leaked from the lab -- either because it was being studied or developed there.

    • Following up... From TFA:

      No 'smoking gun'
      Sources familiar with the effort say filling in that missing genetic link won't be enough to definitively prove whether the virus originated in the lab at Wuhan or first emerged naturally. Officials will still need to piece together other contextual clues to determine the true origins of the pandemic.

    • Thanks for the tip. I was wondering what "US Intel Agencies Are Reviewing Genetic Data From Wuhan Lab" meant. I mean I wasn't sure if they were reviewing Genetic Data (like it says in the title), or reviewing something else (that isn't in the title).

      • One would think the title would suffice, but many people on this thread seem to have made the jump to "the virus came from the lab", so I thought I'd specifically point out that wasn't what this was about. Probably just pissing into the wind at this point...

        • It would indicate a possibility that the virus existed in the lab at one point if there was COVID-19 data there. That was something that China and the WHO denied previously. So if they are lying about that, you need to ask yourself why.

  • The World Health Organization says wildlife farms in southern China are the most likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is still being investigated. According to a CNN report last month, "[S]enior Biden administration officials overseeing the 90-day review now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift fro

    • So guano miners going into caves to collect bat guano, some of whom die from coronavirus, for years but result in nothing, but a pandemic can start from one hypothesized incident in a lab?

  • moot question (Score:4, Insightful)

    by RhettLivingston ( 544140 ) on Thursday August 05, 2021 @07:26PM (#61661693) Journal

    Even if some organization somewhere developed this coronavirus, the failure for every country that failed to defend against it is their own.

    In this day and age where viruses can be spliced and built with commercial equipment available for less than a million dollars of investment by many thousands of virologists around the world, it is paramount that we assume that someone somewhere will be making dangerous viruses. At the same time, there are over 7 billion incubators in the world today available for the natural development of dangerous viruses.

    There is zero chance of success in a policy of controlling viral development whether it be artificial or natural. We must have a comprehensive plan for defending against a virus when it emerges from whatever source. I had honestly assumed the US had such a plan amongst its many secret defense plans. It is apparent we've had a major failure in preparation for what has been assumed to be the next big event for decades.

    We need comprehensive action to create a worldwide early detection system, policies for total shutdown of all international transportation when a detection is made, and a system that can develop and deploy a vaccine in weeks, not months. The key to that system will be a means of comprehensive and trustworthy testing that can be done virtually. That will likely require an investment that makes the Manhattan Project seem like childsplay, but it is absolutely necessary and would advance our general medicine by many decades if we successfully pursue it.

    • There is no magical plan to stop the spread of coronaviruses, except for physical separation. You guys want magic, but it won't happen no matter how much money you throw at it. Another shocker: you are exposed to viruses every day. I know people think COVID-19 is the first virus to ever exist, but it isn't. Welcome to Earth.

      • Of course viruses aren't new. Fast transportation and a population of 7+ billion are though as is the possibility of engineered viruses. Those and other factors change everything.

        Just as we had to develop new techniques of providing food for that population to exist, we also need to develop new techniques to control viruses. Otherwise, a world killer that takes us back to sub billion population levels is not unlikely.

        Physical separation is part of what I outlined - shutting down transportation. If we develo

    • In the meantime, we could do safety audits of labs that work with pathogens. In the US alone, a USA Today investigation found hundreds of accidents severe enough to cause a hospital visit.

  • The World Health Organization says wildlife farms in southern China are the most likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is still being investigated. According to a CNN report last month, "[S]enior Biden administration officials overseeing the 90-day review now believe the theory that the virus accidentally escaped from a lab in Wuhan is at least as credible as the possibility that it emerged naturally in the wild -- a dramatic shift from a year ago, when Democrats publicly downplayed the so-called lab leak theory."

    this seems like going into extensive linguistic hassle to hide the fact that your story has no merit whatsoever. let see the "according to" source that feeds this drivel:

    Little new evidence has emerged to move the needle in one direction or another, these people said. But the fact that the lab leak theory is being seriously considered by top Biden officials is noteworthy

    so, no evidence whatsoever, thank you. just a hunch! okey! :-)

    but it is just so convenient to make up stories, right? bluntly said, it would seem that for the american public you don't even have to bother about disguising the bullshit into something remotely credible, you just spew it out and they will swallow it like fish chow in a tank.

    th

  • If they're looking for either conclusive evidence it escaped from the lab or conclusive evidence it occurred naturally in the wild they're never going to find it. What they are going to find is something that can't be traced to any natural or manufactured sources but nonetheless looks almost exactly like a worst-case-scenario type of hybrid that was once studied in the lab at Wuhan, with some weird markers that look like it sorta came from a natural source but not any one of the known possible natural sour

  • The US Navy runs the Naval Medical Research Units and their goal was to identify and isolate disease before it spread globally. NAMRU-3 is now in Italy (It was in Egypt until late 2019) , NAMRU-6 is in Peru, NAMRU-A is in Singapore, NAMRU-2 is in Cambodia. NAMRU-5 was in Ethiopia.

    Many of those programs were cut with the official reasoning that the poor countries they were in weren't paying their fair share of the costs.

  • How comes US agencies has to steal data from China in order to do research?
    China also stole US data for their research.
    Wouldn't it be better to work together instead of hiding stuff and spying on each other when we all have the same goal (stop the virus).

  • Remember those UFOs? THAT is what caused covid. It surely did not come from the Wuhan lab. That's just a loony conspiracy theory.

  • I understand why the US wants to put the blame on China, I wouldn't even be surprised if the US has spread the virus themselves just to be able to blame China. BUT how is it that the virus has been detected in europe in waste and liverbiopsies way before it escaped the lab in China?

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