US declassifies funding for 120 overseas biolabs

In one of her final acts as Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard declassified and released intelligence documents on Friday detailing extensive U.S. government funding for a network of biological research laboratories overseas. The evidence reveals longstanding financial support for more than 120 such facilities across over 30 countries, including Ukraine, where some labs are now considered vulnerable due to the ongoing war with Russia.

According to the newly public files, dozens of these laboratories were built and supported with American funds. The documents specify that U.S. investment in a single facility, the Odessa Central Reference Laboratory, totaled nearly $3.5 million. Other funded sites include diagnostic labs in Kherson and Zakarpartska, and the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, with costs ranging from $1.7 million to $2.1 million each. The declassified records indicate that Ukrainian scientists were paid by the U.S. government to work in these biocontainment labs, with authorized work including studying the genomes of highly pathogenic avian flu and other infectious viruses.

The intelligence community had previously warned that a U.S.-funded biolab in...