The order that the US Congress issued to the Biden administration on could not have been clearer.
The COVID-19 Origin Act of 2023, signed into law on March 30, required the Director of National Intelligence “to declassify any and all information” relating to links between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origins of Covid-19.
It went into minute detail about what was to be revealed, and set a deadline “not later than 90 days” for this information to be “submit to Congress.”
Note that this was not some highly partisan, narrowly passed legislation supported only by Republicans.
On the contrary, it was passed unanimously by the US Congress.
That’s “unanimous” as in 419 to 0 in the House of Representatives.
This was the American people, through their elected representatives, speaking with one voice about the need for Covid transparency.
So how did Avril Haines, the Director of National Intelligence — and, by extension, the Biden administration — respond to a direct order from the Congress of the United States?
She thumbed her nose at it.
As if to say, “I don’t answer to you,” Haines missed the statutory deadline of June 18 for releasing the report by a full five days.
The sham “report” she finally produced after business hours on a Friday afternoon contained a mere five pages of text.
In it, Haines regurgitated the same tired talking points that the Biden administration has been using for two years now: The intelligence community is divided on Covid’s origins … It’s a toss-up between the Wuhan lab and nature … Blah, blah, blah.
She told us nothing we didn’t already know.
In my past op-eds for The Post and in my “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics,” I pointed out a dozen clues linking Covid to the Wuhan lab, none of which are even mentioned in Haines’ pretend report.
But what should really shock you is her response to the order to declassify any and all material about the Wuhan Lab and the origins of Covid-19.
For Avril Haines not only refused to declassify anything, she went so far as to attach a “classified appendix,” using the now standard excuse that and declassification would compromise “sources and methods.”
In other words, the senior intelligence official of the US government did exactly the opposite of what she had been legally ordered to do, as if daring the Congress to challenge the national security state.
Post-Trump, we all know how such challenges play out.
Any member of Congress who publicly reveals what is in the “classified appendix” about Covid and the Wuhan lab will be accused of endangering national security.
They will be threatened with a long prison term.
The classification system that we control will be used to crush you, is the not-so-hidden message.
So we can actually learn quite a lot from the sham report released by the Director of National Intelligence — and about the Biden administration that she represents.
While the origins of Covid in the Wuhan lab remain shrouded in secrecy, the arrogance and ambitions of the national security state stand revealed for all to see.
When the elected representatives of the American people pass a law only to have the intelligence community produce only a belated and mocking response, we are well on the way to becoming a republic in name only.
If Avril Haines’ ridiculous report proves anything, it’s that the national security state now believes not only that it is a law unto itself, but that it sets the rules for the rest of us.
The next time you hear someone on the left prattle on about “our democracy,” you will know exactly what they mean.
Steven W. Mosher is the President of the Population Research Institute and the author of “The Politically Incorrect Guide to Pandemics.”
