Transmitted: May 24, 2022 To: U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundation
Full Letter: Letter to the U.S. Department of Energy (PDF)
Letter to the National Science Foundation (PDF)
RE: FOIA Request for Documents Related to NSF’s Funding of Grants and Amy Catherine Sims’ Collaboration with EcoHealth Alliance
SUMMARY
Empower Oversight sent two FOIA letters to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Science Foundation (NSF) regarding EcoHealth Alliance, the group at the center of the controversy of the origins of COVID-19.
Two years ago, Newsweek reported that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded gain of function virus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV). This was done through an NIH grant that was made to EcoHealth Alliance, a nonprofit that is directed by Peter Daszak. As a response, in 2021, the U.S. House voted to ban any federal funding from being directed to EcoHealth Alliance. According to a database of federal awards, the NSF provided millions of dollars to EcoHealth Alliance to fund research. Additionally, Amy Catherine Sims, a senior research scientist at the DOE’s Pacific Northwest National Lab, was found to have collaborated with Daszak, among others.
Empower Oversight is seeking all communications between Sims and Daszak, along with any of Sims’ communication with EcoHealth Alliance employees. Communications between the NSF’s grant awards to EcoHealth Alliance and its subsequent products from these grants also fall under this FOIA request.
If you have first-hand information you’d like to disclose to assist Empower Oversight with these inquiries, please contact us confidentially here.