Musk claims USAID funded bioweapon research

The billionaire has branded the US Agency for International Development a “criminal organization”

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has accused the US Agency for International Development (USAID) of financing bioweapon research, including projects that allegedly led to the emergence of Covid-19, branding the agency a “criminal organization.”

Musk’s comment came in response to a post from user @KanekoaTheGreat on Sunday, which claimed that USAID had funneled $53 million to EcoHealth Alliance. The post alleged that these funds were used to support gain-of-function research on coronaviruses at the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China, potentially leading to the creation of Covid-19.

“Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people?” Musk wrote.

Musk did not elaborate on the allegations, but the post he was responding to further asserted that “the CIA’s deception regarding COVID-19 origins becomes much clearer when considering USAID’s long history of serving as a CIA front organization.”

Did you know that USAID, using YOUR tax dollars, funded bioweapon research, including COVID-19, that killed millions of people? https://t.co/YVwyKA7ifs— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025

“USAID is a criminal organization,” Musk wrote in another post, replying to a video about the alleged USAID involvement in internet censorship and “rogue CIA work.” 

USAID is a criminal organization https://t.co/FY7P52XTYC— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025

EcoHealth Alliance, a US-based nonprofit organization, has been at the center of controversy due to its collaborations with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. The organization has denied that its work involved gain-of-function research, but in May 2024, the US Department of Health and Human Services suspended all federal funding to EcoHealth Alliance, citing concerns over the organization’s oversight of high-risk experiments and failure to report research activities promptly.

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The CIA believes it is “more likely” that Covid-19 originated from a lab-leak incident rather than a natural source, the agency’s spokesman said last month after the confirmation of John Ratcliffe as CIA director.

US President Donald Trump’s nominee, Ratcliffe, has been a vocal supporter of the lab-leak version, calling it “the only theory supported by science, intelligence, and common sense.” Following the confirmation, Ratcliffe also said the CIA’s assessment of Covid’s origins would be a “day-one thing for me.”

USAID has a history of funding global health initiatives, including the PREDICT program, which aimed to identify viruses with pandemic potential and ran from 2009 to 2020 in partnership with EcoHealth Alliance. In 2021, USAID launched a $125 million follow-up program known as the Discovery & Exploration of Emerging Pathogens – Viral Zoonoses – but it was shut down prematurely in 2023.

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Russia has repeatedly raised concerns about the network of biological research laboratories supported by the Pentagon and other US agencies around the globe, particularly in Ukraine and other countries near its borders, alleging that these facilities are involved in bioweapon research.

Reporting about US biolab activities was one of the main priorities of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, the Russian military’s top official on the hazards posed by weapons of mass destruction. He was murdered along with his assistant in Moscow in December in the bombing attack allegedly ordered by Kiev.

In its latest reports, the Russian Defense Ministry has drawn attention to the transfer of unfinished Ukrainian projects to post-Soviet states and Southeast Asia, and said that Africa has now become a focal point of interest for the US government, which views the region as an unlimited natural reservoir of dangerous pathogens and a testing ground for experimental medical treatments.

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The US Department of Defense has acknowledged providing support to some laboratories in Ukraine, but insisted that these efforts are focused on preventing the outbreak of infectious diseases and developing vaccines, and that the laboratories are owned and operated by their respective countries, not by the United States. Western officials have consistently dismissed Moscow’s investigations as disinformation aimed at discrediting “legitimate” public health initiatives. 

Moscow and Beijing have nevertheless demanded greater transparency from the US regarding its military biological activities. Last year, the two countries agreed to unite against biological security threats and strengthen the Biological and Toxic Weapons Convention (BTWC).