Transmitted: December 9, 2021
To: Privacy Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Full Request: Department of Homeland Security Request (PDF)
RE: Freedom of Information Act Request for Records Related to EcoHealth Alliance Grants
SUMMARY
Empower Oversight submitted a FOIA request to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding the DHS contract and grant proposals by, and awards to, EcoHealth Alliance.
It was reported last year that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) through a grant to EcoHealth Alliance and Peter Daszak. These grants were provided in full to EcoHealth Alliance, which used some of the grant money to pay the WIV for their dangerous viral research.
In 2016, EcoHealth Alliance was awarded around $2.1 million through a DHS contract called “Ground Truth,” which potentially ends in October 2022. In this FOIA request, Empower Oversight is seeking all communications regarding “Ground Truth,” along with all communications concerning contracts and grants from the DHS to EcoHealth Alliance and its proposals for other contracts or grants that the DHS did not, or has yet to, award.