Money grabbing Donald Rumsfeld and breaking bad Ralph Baric
A guest post by fellow reader
Written by an anonymous European reader:
Like countless others, I’ve been obsessed with the mystery of where COVID-19 truly came from. As a troubleshooter, I couldn’t resist jumping into the heated debate over its origins. Instead of following the well-trodden paths of lab leaks and wet markets, I wanted to take a different angle: an unseen “hand of capital” is pulling the strings behind the scenes.
Over the past few years, I’ve sifted through an overwhelming number of articles, research papers, and government reports about this topic. The deeper I dug, the clearer the answer began to emerge. After piecing all these details, I uncovered something more interesting and closer to the truth. I contended that the two global pandemics of the 21st century, namely, SARS and COVID-19, were deliberately released from laboratories at the behest of pharmaceutical giants and the government.
Thus emerged a fraudulent recombinant coronavirus industry that capitalized on human lives. The mechanism operates as follows: Pharmaceutical giants (e.g., Gilead, Moderna, Pfizer) propped up politicians to positions of power. These captured officials then enable pharmaceutical giants to engineer viral problems and peddle therapeutic solutions simultaneously. After amassing obscene profits, these corporations reinvest in political patronage to perpetuate their interests, ultimately forming a closed-loop “Möbius strip” of corruption.
Spokesman of Pharmaceutical Giants: Donald H. Rumsfeld
With the help of Searle Pharmaceuticals, an established pharmaceutical company now owned by Pfizer, Donald Rumsfeld launched his political career and later ascended to the throne of power.1
In 1962, after serving as a staff assistant to Congressman Robert P. Griffin of Michigan and engaging in a two-year stint with an investment banking firm, A. G. Becker & Co., Rumsfeld, at the age of 30, was handpicked by Searle’s chairman, Daniel C. Searle, and was appointed to the corporate board. From 1962 to 1968, Rumsfeld successfully served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives with Daniel’s support. In 1975, he was selected by Ford to succeed James Schlesinger as Secretary of Defense of the United States.2
During his tenure at Searle Pharmaceuticals, Rumsfeld played a pivotal role in transforming the company from a small family-owned business into a competitive player in the pharmaceutical industry. He also leveraged his political connections to lobby for legislation that would benefit Searle’s business interests, including policies on drug patents and food safety regulations. In 1985, Rumsfeld brokered Monsanto’s $2.7 billion takeover of Searle Pharmaceuticals.3
In 1988, Rumsfeld was recruited by Michael L. Riordan, the founder of the bio-pharmaceutical startup Gilead Sciences, to join the company’s board of directors. Rumsfeld left Gilead Sciences in 1990 and came back in 1993. In 2001, he was once again propelled into high office, this time as U.S. Secretary of Defense under President George W. Bush.
Another explosion is unlikely to strike the exact same spot. However, the same storyline happened twice in Rumsfeld’s career. Is this just a coincidence, or is there something more behind it?
Lucrative Business Opportunities
Then, the 9/11 attacks hit in 2001, a tragic event that plunged the nation into a state of panic and fear. In the wake of the catastrophe, the U.S. government poured massive emergency funds into national security measures, including preparations for biological threats. For Rumsfeld, this was nothing short of a fiscal windfall. The influx of money dedicated to bio-defense initiatives, particularly in the context of potential biological attacks, aligned perfectly with his personal and corporate interests. He seized the opportunity with remarkable astuteness.
Notably, Gilead Sciences was the developer of Oseltamivir, a drug used to treat avian influenza as well as influenza A and B in humans. During Rumsfeld’s time as chairman of Gilead from 1997 to 2001, one of his key roles was to help bring antiviral drugs, including Oseltamivir, to international markets. However, at that time, Gilead was struggling with its financial situation, and the company was losing money until 2003. As a two-time recipient of the Pharmaceutical Industry’s Outstanding CEO Award, Rumsfeld faced a serious challenge and was in desperate need of a way to “turn the tide.”4
The events of 9/11 presented a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Rumsfeld, where he saw a new business opportunity: creating a vaccine while simultaneously developing a treatment for the virus. This strategy would not only meet the country’s need for defense against biological threats, but also allow it to profit from the widespread sale of vaccines, fueled by the public’s fear of unknown dangers.
Bypassing Regulations
With ample startup capital and a suitable business model, the next challenge for Rumsfeld was to navigate regulations effectively and ensure the business ran smoothly. It is as easy as pie for the veteran politician and businessman.
“Rumsfeld afforded me a close-up look at a special Washington phenomenon: the skilled full-time politician-bureaucrat in whom ambition, ability, and substance fuse seamlessly,” former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger wrote in his memoirs.5
To avoid regulations, Rumsfeld urged the Bush government to exploit the “loophole” in Article X of the Biological Weapons Convention (The States Parties to this Convention undertake to facilitate, and have the right to participate in, the fullest possible exchange of equipment, materials, and scientific and technological information for the use of bacteriological (biological) agents and toxins for peaceful purposes. Parties to the Convention in a position to do so shall also cooperate in contributing individually or together with other States or international organizations to the further development and application of scientific discoveries in the field of bacteriology (biology) for the prevention of disease or for other peaceful purposes. He also insisted on vetoing the BWC’s draft verification protocol, citing “threats to trade secrets” that prevented effective verification of the biological weapons ban across the countries involved to this day.
To ensure the smooth operation of the business model, Rumsfeld leveraged his power over public security and strategically expanded funding for dual-use technologies. These technologies included next-generation vaccines, antiviral therapeutics, and cutting-edge genomic tools. By manipulating DARPA and NIAID, Rumsfeld orchestrated a perfect closed loop so that he could profit from fields such as bio-defense, pandemic preparedness, and emerging infectious diseases.
Breaking Bad: Ralph S. Baric
The biological mastermind behind Rumsfeld’s profit-driven bio-security agenda was Ralph Baric, a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 2001 to 2018, Pentagon funds flowed into Baric’s research, supporting bio-defense projects. However, this funding wasn’t only about bio-defense, but also built a solid foundation for an increasingly profitable system of engineered viruses and vaccine solutions.
In 2001, Baric successfully modified a novel artificial chimeric coronavirus and obtained a patent (US 6593111). In 2002, seven months before the SARS pandemic, Baric’s team was able to solve the viral modification and genetic recombination, which made it possible to develop viruses with different functions and transmission capabilities. This awarded his team a patent (US7279327B2).
Baric explicitly stated that his “infectious constructs” were able to replicate themselves like real viruses. What’s more, Baric had found a way to assemble them seamlessly, with no trace of artifacts. Therefore, it is impossible to determine whether the virus was created in a laboratory or evolved naturally. Baric called it the “stealth method” and claimed that it has wide-ranging and underappreciated applications in molecular biology.6
Given the context of Baric’s patents and the timing of global viral outbreaks, one has to question whether Baric was referring to the artificial creation of SARS when discussing his “stealth approach” and “infectious constructs.”
In early 2003, the CDC filed a patent on the SARS coronavirus, including the synthetic coronavirus methodology, the engineered virus, and diagnostic methods and testing kits. This patent revealed that the U.S. government had acknowledged how to create and manipulate coronaviruses long before the SARS outbreak.
However, due to American legal provisions, the CDC petitioned the U.S. Patent Office in 2007 to classify these SARS-related patents as national secrets, which effectively prevented the public from knowing any relevant details.
In addition, disclosed documents obtained through FOIA confirmed that Dr. Baric “has already generated SARS-like chimeras…of bat viruses…which are 20% different from epidemic strains” in 2018. This chimera was engineered using a bat virus that shares a close genetic relationship with SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. Given that SARS-CoV-2 exhibits only a 22% divergence from these bat coronaviruses, it implied that a bat virus ~2% different from SARS2 was in a UNC freezer in early 2018.7
Initially, this virus was dubbed “HKU3-Smix” in Baric’s patents and DARPA’s DEFUSE project. Later, it was renamed “HKU3r-CoVs” in NIAID records.8 Over time, it became evident that this virus, engineered initially in Baric’s lab, was the precursor or prototype for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that triggered the COVID-19 pandemic.
Baric’s achievements in developing viruses ahead of both the 2003 SARS outbreak and the 2019 COVID-19 pandemic positioned him as a crucial component of Rumsfeld’s model.9
Money-grabber
The SARS outbreak in 2003 triggered a sharp increase in demand for antiviral vaccines worldwide. As the world scrambled for solutions, one company found itself at the center of the storm: Gilead Sciences. With deep, entrenched ties to Rumsfeld, Gilead made a strategic pivot in 2002 to focus on the development of antiviral drugs.10
Within just one year, Gilead secured $44.6 million from the sale of Oseltamivir. At the same time, Gilead’s stock price soared. For Rumsfeld, the timing couldn’t have been better. By offloading only a portion of his shares, he pocketed over $5 million. After that, he still owned Gilead Sciences shares valued at $25 million.
In 2005, sales of Oseltamivir totaled $160 million. From 2003 to 2005, the company’s stock price nearly tripled. According to a 2005 report, Rumsfeld’s shares in Gilead were valued at an astonishing $95.9 million, raking in a personal profit of $13 million.11
The Seeds Of Corruption
This new business model not only made Rumsfeld a fortune, but it also brought fame and fortune to his bosses. Over the next few decades, everyone who caught wind of this lucrative setup was eager to get in on the action and claim their share of the profits.
According to recollections from former DARPA team members, from the USAID’s PREDICT program or the Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation supported Global Virome Project (funded through CEPI) to the DARPA PREEMPT grant or the DEFUSE proposal to the same DARRPA PREEMPT program, everyone wanted to find wildlife viruses, characterize their diversity, and study their functions in the labs.12
Alliance of the Greedy
In 2009, as the avian flu was spreading globally, USAID launched the PREDICT initiative under the Emerging Pandemic Threats (EPT) Program. The initiative, which was co-funded by USAID, the Pentagon, and the NIAID, was implemented by EcoHealth Alliance.13
Why did EcoHealth attract the Pentagon and USAID’s attention? Was it their reputation, their technical expertise, or something else?
Personal connections were crucial to EcoHealth’s success. Firstly, the EPT Program originated from a series of global conferences with the theme “One World, One Health” from 2005 to 2006, led by Billy Karesh, a close aide of Peter Daszak, the chairman of EcoHealth Alliance. Secondly, Peter had cultivated deep ties with DTRA head Andy Weber by 2013.
As the PREDICT program grew, so did the financial rewards for Peter Daszak and key members of EcoHealth. Can you imagine that by 2018, the group had paid themselves over $1 million in salaries? Just as Donald Trump often says, one can cut favorable deals when he “has all the cards.”
From 2009 to 2019, EcoHealth Alliance collected 15,000 bat samples from all over the world and identified nearly 500 novel coronaviruses. These samples were uploaded directly into U.S. genetic databases for research conducted by the military, universities, and research institutions. Among the viral specimens collected by EcoHealth were some of the most significant to the ongoing pandemic debate, including RshSTT182 (collected in 2010 from Cambodia and 93% similar to SARS2), SHC014, and RaTG13 (96% similarity to SARS2, called initially 4991). These viral repositories provided essential data that enabled Dr. Ralph Baric’s team to conduct gain-of-function experiments in labs and complete virus development in 2018.
With this trump card in hand, Peter Daszak was able to squander government funding without fear.
Pharmaceutical Giants Join the Game
Pharmaceutical giants played pivotal roles in Rumsfeld’s business model. For example, with its deep ties to Rumsfeld, Gilead Sciences exemplifies entities that provide “solutions” through vaccine manufacturing and distribution. Under Rumsfeld’s orchestration, DARPA executed a tripartite strategy: a) collaborating with USAID to fund EcoHealth Alliance for global virus collection, supplying specimens for military and academic research; b) partnering with NIAID to support Baric’s laboratory in pathogenic virus engineering; c) allying with drug manufacturers to accelerate vaccine development as “preemptive solutions.”
In 2012, with the ADEPT: PROTECT program, DARPA began investing in the development of gene-encoded vaccines, a new category of preventive measures based on DNA or RNA. DARPA’s investments in this space led directly to the biotechnology firm Moderna, which became a contracted performer in the program.14
On March 28, 2019, nine months before the COVID-19 outbreak, Moderna and NIAID jointly submitted a patent application for an antiviral vaccine.15
On December 12, 2019, just one day before the first case of COVID-19 was reported, a highly confidential agreement was signed. This 153-page tripartite agreement between NIAID, Moderna, and Dr. Ralph Baric would lay the groundwork for the development and testing of an mRNA coronavirus vaccine. Pages 105 and 108 of the agreement stated that Moderna and NIAID agreed to transfer the “mRNA coronavirus vaccine candidate” (developed and co-owned by the two organizations) to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Showtime: COVID-19
The same Rumsfeld playbook that once justified the Iraq War has been dusted off, updated, and reactivated during the COVID-19 pandemic. As Secretary of Defense, Rumsfeld relentlessly pushed the narrative that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), which became the excuse for the 2003 invasion.16
Although no WMD stockpiles were ever found, the narrative persists until today. DARPA replicated this model. Pandemic preparedness became the new WMD: a pretext to justify government spending and secure massive contracts for a handful of powerful pharmaceutical companies. Vaccine production became the new profitable arms race, with Moderna, Pfizer, Gilead Sciences, and other big pharma companies rushing to develop treatments.
Project DEFUSE
In January 2018, DARPA launched a program named PREEMPT (PREventing EMerging Pathogenic Threats, internal code HR001118S0017). Officially, the program aimed to reinforce traditional medical preparedness by containing viral infectious diseases in animal reservoirs and insect vectors before they could pose a threat to humans. Through studies in secure laboratories and simulated natural environments, PREEMPT sought to “preserve military readiness by protecting against the infectious disease threat.”17
Under the umbrella of PREEMPT, EcoHealth Alliance submitted the highly controversial DEFUSE proposal to both DARPA and NIAID in March and October 2018, respectively. The proposal outlined plans to release aerosolized immune modulators, chimeric coronavirus spike protein nanoparticles, and/or self-spreading vaccines from the sky with drones.
Although DEFUSE mainly focused on bats as the experimental subjects, other sections explicitly stated that aerosol delivery systems could be used for “inoculation of animals/humans.”
Additionally, the proposal outlined the process of aerosolizing pathogens using a nebulizer and delivering the spray via remote-controlled drones. It also repeatedly references Madison, Wisconsin, as the site for “field trials” to be carried out by the National Wildlife Health Center (NWHC).
The Notorious Fort Detrick
In early June 2019, six months before the COVID-19 pandemic, the CDC abruptly shut down the Fort Detrick military facility after a severe leak at the ABSL-3 animal laboratory. In an odd twist, the CDC deliberately omitted the identity of the leaked bio-toxin in the official investigation reports. Was this omission an accident or a man-made disaster?
Just weeks after this closure, in July 2019, an outbreak of unexplained pneumonia struck a retirement community in Fairfax County, which was only about an hour’s drive from Fort Detrick, leaving 54 infected, hospitalized, and 2 died.18 The county health department confirmed that the first recorded instance of infection occurred on June 30, 2019. In the very same month, a surge of e-cigarette-related lung illnesses, commonly referred to as “vaping lung,” began to spread across the United States. What started as a handful of cases quickly escalated into a national crisis, with hundreds of lives lost. Did these people die from e-cigarettes? Or were they victims of the Fort Detrick virus leak?
On July 18, 2019, the Federal Select Agent Program (FSAP) formally suspended the license of the USAMRIID at Fort Detrick. On July 23 and 24, the director of USAMRIID and the commander of the USAMRDC were successively removed from their positions.19 20
Do these two events seem familiar? One might wonder: Did Rumsfeld, the talented troublemaker, direct this show?21
Cash Cow
The COVID-19 outbreak in December 2019 prompted major pharmaceutical companies such as Gilead Sciences, Moderna, Pfizer, and BioNTech to quickly roll out unverified, self-developed antiviral vaccines to capture astonishing profits. While these companies moved with unprecedented speed, the timeline from development to market release was much shorter than the usual vaccine development process. Typically, antiviral vaccines take 8 to 15 years to progress from research and development to gaining market approval, encompassing fundamental research, animal testing, and multiple phases of clinical trials. Did this suggest that they were already prepared in advance?
From 2020 to 2022, the COVID-19 vaccine co-developed by Moderna and NIAID generated an astounding $37 billion in revenue and around $20 billion in net profit. In 2021, the vaccine generated $18.5 billion in revenue, representing a 2,200% year-over-year growth for Moderna.
Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine generated $81.3 billion in revenue in 2021, nearly doubling the $41.9 billion it brought in the year before. As revealed by Jordon Trishton Walker, Director of Research and Development, Strategic Operations, and mRNA Scientific Planning at Pfizer, COVID-19 has become a cash cow for the pharmaceutical giant. Pfizer has been actively engineering viral mutations through a process known as “directed evolution” to ensure a continuous stream of profitable vaccines. This practice embodies a strategy eerily reminiscent of Rumsfeld’s business model: create the problem, then profit from the solution.
In 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation made a $260 million profit by divesting its $55 million stake in BioNTech. This strategic exit allowed the foundation to achieve a fivefold return on its initial investment, an outcome that would make any venture capitalist proud.
In March 2020, Daniel O’Day, President of Gilead Sciences, told President Trump at a White House round-table: “We have a medicine called Remdesivir, which is like a decade-long development that’s an antiviral used to treat coronavirus. It’s the same virus as SARS and MERS, belonging to the same family. We hope it will have the same effect against COVID-19. So we know, in vitro, that it has a very high effect.” Thanks to Remdesivir’s remarkable effectiveness, President Trump recovered within just three days! On May 1, 2020, President Trump also announced the approval of Remdesivir.22
In 2021 alone, Gilead Sciences reported $5.6 billion in sales, accounting for approximately 20.5% of the company’s total revenue that year. The U.S. government also incorporated Remdesivir into its standard COVID-19 treatment protocol for critically ill patients.
Pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions have reaped major profits from the COVID-19 pandemic, with the associated political benefits being even less quantifiable. In 2004, Rumsfeld received the Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actor for his role in Fahrenheit 9/11.23
Yet it’s clear that Rumsfeld was far from a mere supporting figure. In the theater of coronavirus proliferation and vaccine profiteering, Rumsfeld was always the leading protagonist. The textbook wealth-extraction model he pioneered had been seamlessly adapted and conducted by the U.S. government and its political partners, creating a shadow industry that profits from human suffering and global crises.
How many lives were lost or forever altered? How many families mourned the loss of loved ones? How many children will grow up with fractured futures? Will we allow this dark industry to continue thriving? How many more human lives must be sacrificed?
Cockburn, Andrew (February 27, 2007). Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-4652-8. (https://books.google.com/bo oks?id=lN9uIMjTyi4C)
Mann, James (October 8, 2003).”Rumsfeld’s Roots.” The Atlantic.(https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2003/11/rumsfel ds-roots/378570/)
https://www.ieyenews.com/category/caribbean-news/THE FAUCI/COVID-19 DOSSIER- INVESTIGATION INTO POSSIBLE ILLEGAL PATENT CLAIMS RESULTING IN MILLIONS OF $ IN COMMERCIAL BENEFITS
https://jonfleetwood.substack.com/p/darpa-linked-to-covid-19-virus-and-moderna-jab-creation-since-2012-covered-up-ecohealth-gain-of-function-research-in-2021;(https://www.darpa.mil/attachments/ADEPTVignetteFINAL.pdf)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4301783.stm
On January 30, 2020, a calm but tired Linfa Wang appeared on American television. He quoted Donald Rumsfeld by calling SARS2 a ‘known, unknown.’ Earlier in 2019, both Linfa and Dani referenced Ralph Baric’s research in their “known unknown” coronavirus paper.
#7 Peter Daszak was the perfect Brit for the American job
Same disclaimer from part 6: this is obviously a Wuhan lab leak hypothetical based on an accident, not an accusation. This is a series of posts not so much to discuss ‘lab’ leak but ‘what’ leaked.
I worked as a Senate investigator of the FDA in late 70’s early 80’s and had a lot of info about Rumsfeld’s big pharma connections and illegal activities that we couldn’t publish during the Reagan years. Good story and only the tip of the iceberg!
There's a simple solution that would put an end to this hugely malfeasant issue, but no-one seems to have the courage to address it. The solution is to remove all private money from every aspect of public governance and replace it with fed funding - and that of course includes election funding. Do that and the dominant players in big pharma and the lobbying industry, lose their power of controlling almost everything on the planet, apart from MSM. But, if 'on-the-take' governments are replaced with 'not-on-the-take' governments, I doubt the 'on-the-take' MSM would be tolerated for too long, or any other peripheral 'on-the-take' entity. Of course, the 'big funding swap' could only occur if we the citizens wanted it enough to take to the streets - peacefully, I stress.