CIA favors lab leak theory

I've often heard the lab leak theory of COVID origins to be "crackpot" or "right wing."

But it has always seemed all too plausible to me, and possibly the best theory as well according to many articles I've read.  I've read the papers on the other side too and not found them convincing and I worry about conflicts of interest among relevant scientists (notably virologists) who may be driven to defend their kind of work with or without even realizing it.  I've written some posts and emails on this.

Now the CIA joins the DOE and the FBI in endorsing the Lab Leak theory as the most likely.  Insiders say this has been in the works for some time, it was not driven by having a new President.

But the backstory keeps getting elided.  US officially banned Gain of Function research into contagious viruses.  US officials, including Fauci, got a waiver on that ban to continue GOF research at Wuhan into coronaviruses.  Later the Trump administration relaxed oversight on Wuhan.  The perfect storm.  For a long time now we have known that BSL 2 labs were being used to conduct research at Wuhan that was banned for BSL 4 labs in USA.

This was not a "Chinese Military Project" to create bioweapons as some Senators allege.  It was several kinds of negligence, mostly driven by the US, coming together in the same time and place, just like a novel by Michael Crichton. 

At minimum, this catastrophe should be very cautionary.  Even if it were not a Lab Leak, all the ingredients were there--it very well could have been.

To put it simply: Certain kinds of research should not be done.