A longtime CIA officer stepped into public view for the first time Wednesday and accused Dr. Anthony Fauci of improperly influencing intelligence reviews into the origins of COVID-19.
James Erdman III, a special operations officer who testified under subpoena before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, alleged there was a broad effort inside the intelligence community to steer analysts away from conclusions supporting the lab leak theory, per the New York Post.
“Dr. Fauci’s role in the cover-up was intentional,” Erdman told lawmakers.
According to Erdman, Fauci inserted himself into intelligence discussions about the pandemic’s origins by providing what he described as “a conflicted list of curated subject matter experts, public health officials and scientists” to investigators examining how the virus emerged.
Erdman said several of those experts later participated in a February 2020 teleconference that produced the paper “The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2,” which argued against the theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory in China.
He testified that intelligence officials repeatedly leaned toward a natural-origin explanation despite objections from some analysts and technical experts.
“The CIA and DNI analytic managers responsible for examining the origin of COVID made decisions inconsistent with the conclusions of subject matter experts and analytical tradecraft, consistently favoring the theory of zoonosis or natural origin,” Erdman said.
The officer claimed Fauci became involved in intelligence deliberations at least twice — once in February 2020 and again in June 2021 — in ways he said promoted a preferred narrative.
Erdman also recounted a June 2021 exchange in which concerns were allegedly raised about Fauci “injecting himself” into the process as a “subject matter expert.”
At the time, Fauci was serving as director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Erdman argued that intelligence managers later softened findings from technical experts who still believed a lab leak was the most likely explanation for the outbreak.
“Six of the seven technical experts say, ‘Yep, we still think it’s a lab leak,’” he testified. “And they were sticking to their guns. Management changed the analytic line.”
He also criticized a 2023 intelligence assessment that stated, “We may never precisely know the origin of SARS-CoV-2.”
“‘Precisely’ is not a term analysts use,” Erdman said. “They use words like ‘low confidence,’ ‘medium confidence.’ ‘Precisely’ is a word you use when you want to deliberately end discussion.”
The officer denied earlier reports that analysts were bribed to alter conclusions, though he acknowledged that some employees later received roughly $1,500 Exceptional Performance Awards.
“There were no bribes,” Erdman said.
Erdman further alleged that the intelligence community withheld thousands of pages of classified material related to COVID origins despite a 2023 law signed by former President Joe Biden requiring disclosures.
He also accused the CIA of illegally monitoring whistleblowers and personnel involved in reviewing the matter alongside the office of Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
“These were Americans being spied upon illegally while executing duties directed by the president and under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence,” Erdman testified.
Sen. Rand Paul praised Erdman during the hearing, calling him a “decorated officer with decades of intelligence and national security experience” who came forward because “the truth was being buried.”
The CIA sharply criticized the hearing afterward.
Agency spokeswoman Liz Lyons accused the committee of staging “political theater” and argued the agency had already concluded COVID-19 most likely originated from a lab leak.
“This proceeding amounts to nothing more than dishonest political theater masquerading as a congressional hearing,” Lyons said.
