HHS Secretary Kennedy says FBI investigating Fort Detrick incident that led to bio-lab shutdown

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed Wednesday during Senate testimony that an incident involving two contractors that shuttered a biosafety lab at a western Maryland Army base is being investigated by the FBI. 

"We brought in the FBI to investigate," Kennedy said in response to a question by Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, before which Kennedy testified. "As you say, it appears like it was a deliberate criminal act that was kind of equivalent to attempted murder."

The revelation follows National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya saying Monday on the Just the News, No Noise TV show the incident was a fight between the contractors, in which one slashed a hole in a containment suit of the other, potentially exposing them to a pathogen. 

When the incident occurred is unclear. But Bhattacharya, who was confirmed to the NIH post March 25, said he shut down the high-level lab upon assuming the post and that he would not reopen it until he was satisfied it is safe.  

Paul praised Kennedy for bringing in the FBI into the investigation.

Kennedy said he had a trip planned to Fort Detrick with Bhattacharya and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and that they plan to report back to Congress on what they find. 

He also said during the hearing that HHS has declared the end of gain of function research. 

Experts continue to disagree on the definition of such research. But the general understanding is that it involves altering an organism's genetic makeup to give it new abilities or enhance existing ones to understand how a virus or pathogen works, how it evolves and what makes it dangerous. 

One theory about how the recent pandemic started was that COVID-19 was accidentally leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, after gain-of-function manipulations of a SARS-like virus.

"I commend you for that," Paul said about ending such research. "I think ultimately, legislation will be needed, because the next administration could reverse it. I think there is bipartisan support for some controls on gain of function."