Who knew there was a Z Division?

[LeeG]

Anyway, 44% of Americans believe something.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/...s/11364009002/

WASHINGTON – Tucked away in a secretive office, a little-known team of government scientists began looking into al-Qaida and the possibility of a biological weapons attack after terrorists exposed a "gaping hole" in national security on Sept. 11, 2001.

Known simply as the "Z Division," the team was established in the U.S. Department of Energy to help intelligence agencies understand the significance of Soviet nuclear weapons tests. But the 9/11 terrorist attacks would change its mission.

Two decades later, the Z Division finds itself in the middle of a storm as it tries to answer the question that scientists, doctors and ordinary Americans are asking about the roots of the COVID-19 pandemic: How did it happen?
.
.
A new classified intelligence report prepared by experts from the Energy Department's national laboratory complex, including scientists in the Z Division, concluded the pandemic probably started with an unintentional laboratory leak in Wuhan, China. The findings have been sent to White House and key members of Congress, according to The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news

Now the DOE provided analysis back in 2002 on the dreaded aluminum tubes of nuclear destruction and said in the 25 page addendum they probably weren’t parts for a centeifuge as implied in the main body of the work. But here they are quoted for their expertise on virology out of a five page paper leaked to the WSJ.

What do Americans say about COVID’s origins?

Nearly half of Americans think COVID-19 pandemic was caused by a lab leak in China, according to a Morning Consult poll released Tuesday.

Forty-four percent of U.S. adults polled said they believe the virus spilled from a virology lab in Wuhan, while just 26% believe the virus moved naturally from animals to humans. The share of Americans who believe the lab theory has held steady since June 2021, the pollster said.

44%, I believe that.

[Paul Pless]

please tell me there's gonna be zombies

[LeeG]

the hearings.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...id-19-origins/

Even the Energy Department’s analysis was carefully hedged, as the officials expressed only “low confidence” in their conclusion, according to U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a classified report.

.
The overall view — that there is as yet no definitive conclusion on the virus’s origin — has not changed since the release of an earlier version of the report by the Biden administration in 2021, according to the officials.
“The bottom line remains the same: Basically no one really knows,” one of the officials said.
Still, the news that Energy had shifted its view reignited what was already an intense debate on social media and in Washington, where members of Congress are preparing for hearings — some as early as Tuesday — exploring the circumstances behind the outbreak.

To prevent the next pandemic, we need to know how this one began,” Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.), a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

[LeeG]

please tell me there's gonna be zombies

they’re already amongst us

[George Jung]

Unlikely we'll ever conclusively know the Covid origins. But - that shouldn't impede guidelines/ constraints on lab functions, going forward. If a problem has been identified - address it.

[LeeG]

Unlikely we'll ever conclusively know the Covid origins. But - that shouldn't impede guidelines/ constraints on lab functions, going forward. If a problem has been identified - address it.

Weel there ya go, if they can’t conclusively know we should consider low confidence analysis from agencies in the DOE and FBI leaked before Congressional hearings on the existential threat of China, our largest trading partner.

[john welsford]

they’re already amongst us

The seem to have a predilection for standing for political office.

John Welsford

[Jim Mahan]

An article on BBC or NPR points out that the reported confidence in the conclusion by those reporting the lab leak is low and the evidence weak, and that other sources, with more credibility to discuss virology have more confidence in the likelihood of the source being wild animals for sale and being processed in regular open air market in Wuhan, where the first cases were reported, and the first community spread happened. Those reports discussed finding traces of the virus actually in the market and among the people who were working there.

What I don't hear anymore is the implication that the supposed lab leak was part of a diabolical plot by some faction in China rather than an accident. So there's that.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I thought the "Z" division were Russians in Ukraine.

[LeeG]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Division

Z-Division — is a Special Projects Group of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory established to provide the United States Intelligence Community with technical assessments of foreign nuclear programs and weapons capabilities.[1] Z-Division was formed in 1965, bringing together scientists and engineers to help intelligence agencies understand the significance of Soviet nuclear weapons tests. The letter 'Z' was chosen as most letters were already assigned to other divisions. Relationships with the American intelligence community were formalised by a memorandum of understanding drawn up between the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Atomic Energy Commission (now the Department of Energy) in the same year.[2]

[Ted Hoppe]

please tell me there's gonna be zombies

When it happens - you can tie her up in the basement. I bet few questions will be asked.

D0D62F79-1531-4997-99EB-A0194518F7EA.jpg

[Garret]

I thought the "Z" division were Russians in Ukraine.

'zactly.

[Paul Pless]

When it happens - you can tie her up in the basement. I bet few questions will be asked.

D0D62F79-1531-4997-99EB-A0194518F7EA.jpg

Without friends none of this is possible.

[Ted Hoppe]

Roll Tide!

[Garret]

Without friends none of this is possible.

So - who's gonna connect the Zombie Outbreak Response Team to Tide basketball?