WASHINGTON — Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard has released newly declassified intelligence that she says shows longstanding U.S. government funding for more than 120 biological laboratories in more than 30 countries, including Ukraine.
The release marks a major escalation in the federal government’s scrutiny of overseas biological research, pathogen storage and gain-of-function research, especially at facilities located in conflict zones or countries where oversight may be limited.
According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the labs include facilities in Ukraine that may be vulnerable because of the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. ODNI said the Intelligence Community had previously warned that a U.S.-funded biolab in Ukraine likely housed dangerous pathogens and remained vulnerable to possible Russian attack, seizure or damage.
Gabbard (pictured at top via her X account) said the release is part of a broader effort tied to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at ending federal funding of dangerous gain-of-function research around the world and increasing transparency and accountability.
“Today, June 15, 2026, I’m releasing never before seen intelligence revealing new evidence of past U.S. government funding for more than 120 biolabs in over 30 countries, including Ukraine,” Gabbard said in a public statement.
She said ODNI will continue working with partners across the administration to identify where the labs are, what pathogens they contain and what research is being conducted.
The newly released ODNI materials include slides labeled as intelligence analysis concerning U.S.-supported labs in Ukraine. The documents reference more than 40 labs built or supported in Ukraine, storage of pathogens from the Soviet era, U.S. training for Ukrainian scientists in biocontainment and “especially dangerous pathogen” certification.
The slides list pathogens including anthrax, tularemia, tuberculosis, swine fever, Newcastle disease, MERS, SARS, Marburg, Ebola, Lassa, plague and rickettsia.
Another ODNI slide identifies several Ukrainian laboratories and lists U.S. government investment amounts, contractors and subcontractors. The listed facilities include labs in Kherson, the Institute of Veterinary Medicine of the National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, the Ukrainian Research Anti-Plague Institute, and a diagnostic laboratory in Zakarpattia.
The release also says U.S. funds supported work involving highly pathogenic avian flu and other highly infectious viruses in biocontainment labs.
Gabbard accused past government officials of misleading the public about the existence, funding and scope of U.S.-supported biolabs abroad.
The issue has been politically explosive since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. For years, U.S. officials said Russian claims about U.S.-backed biological weapons labs in Ukraine were propaganda. At the same time, the U.S. government publicly acknowledged support for Ukrainian laboratories through the Defense Department’s Cooperative Threat Reduction Program and Biological Threat Reduction Program.
Those earlier federal descriptions framed the work as an effort to secure dangerous pathogens left from the Soviet era, improve disease detection, strengthen biosafety and prevent naturally occurring, accidental or intentional biological threats.
The newly released ODNI material does not by itself prove that the United States operated a biological weapons program. But it does sharpen questions about the scale of U.S. funding, the types of pathogens stored or studied, the level of public disclosure and the risks of conducting or supporting high-consequence biological work overseas.
The controversy also highlights the difference between “biological research,” “biodefense,” “threat reduction,” “gain-of-function research” and “biological weapons” — terms that are often blurred in political debate but can carry very different meanings.
Gain-of-function research generally refers to experiments that can enhance certain properties of an organism, such as transmissibility, host range or severity. Supporters say some of the work can help scientists understand emerging threats and prepare vaccines or treatments. Critics warn it can create catastrophic risk if pathogens are made more dangerous or if containment fails.
Trump’s executive order on biological research was aimed at cutting off federal funding for dangerous gain-of-function research in countries of concern and in foreign nations judged to have insufficient oversight.
For Ukraine, the concern is compounded by war. Even legitimate public-health laboratories can become security threats if they are damaged, seized, abandoned or forced to operate under wartime stress.
The ODNI release said Gabbard has issued new guidance to the Intelligence Community directing increased collection on overseas laboratories and facilities. ODNI said the directive is already producing new details on clinical trials underway at some facilities, raising ethical, financial and security concerns.
The documents are likely to fuel renewed debate in Washington over pandemic origins, U.S. biodefense policy, foreign aid, Ukraine funding, federal transparency and the power of intelligence agencies to withhold information from the public.
They may also give new momentum to lawmakers who have demanded tighter controls on biological research funding, stronger audits of overseas science grants and clearer reporting on U.S.-supported labs abroad.
For the public, the central question is no longer simply whether U.S. taxpayer money supported foreign biological laboratories. The federal government now says it did.
The harder questions are what exactly was done inside those facilities, who approved it, how closely it was monitored, whether any work crossed dangerous lines, and why the American people were not given a clearer accounting sooner.
Direct from Gabbard’s X account.