Payam Javan: On March 10, a bill that would require the Director of National Intelligence to make material regarding the cause of the COVID-19 pandemic declassified was unanimously approved by the GOP-controlled House of Representatives.

Joe Biden, the president, will sign the legislation after it was unanimously approved by the Democrat-controlled Senate on March 1. The administration has not yet taken a stance on the proposal.

Upon the bill’s passage, the director of national intelligence would have up to 90 days to “declassify any information relating to suspected linkages between the Wuhan Institute of Virology and the origin of” COVID-19.

The House Intelligence Committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Turner, stated a lab leak was the “likely” origin of the epidemic prior to the vote. He pointed out that the intelligence community can divulge details about the sources without jeopardizing their sources and procedures.