OAN’s Abril Elfi
1:34 PM – Wednesday, December 27, 2023
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is being accused of “paying” analysts to change their conclusions and findings into COVID-19.
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The CIA was sued by the conservative group Heritage Foundation, where they cited the agency’s refusal to provide records that were sought through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request earlier this year.
“This is an action under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, to compel production of CIA records relating to allegations that members of the CIA’s COVID Discovery Team, a group of employees tasked with analyzing the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, received monetary incentives to change their position on the origins of the virus,” the lawsuit states. “As of the date of this Complaint, CIA has failed to: (i) produce the requested records or demonstrate that the records are lawfully exempt from disclosure; (ii) notify Plaintiffs of the scope of any responsive records it intends to produce or withhold and the reasons for any withholdings; or (iii) inform Plaintiffs that they may appeal any adequately specific, adverse determination.”
In the lawsuit, the foundation states that they had previously filed a FOIA request for information relating to the CIA’s COVID-19 discovery team, including its creation, communications between members, and documents “regarding the pay history, to include the awarding of any type of financial or performance-based incentive/financial bonus to members of all iterations of the COVID Discovery Team(s).”
The lawsuit states that the records have approximately 20 business days to be processed and issued and it is now past its deadline.
“Under FOIA, CIA has twenty (20) business days to produce responsive documents or issue a determination communicating the scope of the documents it intends to produce and/or withhold, the reasons for any withholding, and notifying the requester that it may appeal any adverse determination,” the lawsuit says. “Twenty business days from October 25, 2023 is November 20, 2023.”
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