Newly obtained documents reportedly show Dr. Anthony Fauci instructed an aide to permanently erase an email about controversial gain of function research.
The 2012 correspondence adds another troubling chapter to the federal record keeping questions surrounding the former government health official.
The emails were obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation and date to a fierce scientific debate years before the COVID 19 pandemic.
At issue were experiments designed to make a dangerous strain of bird flu transmissible through the air.
Dutch virologist Ron Fouchier conducted the experiments with funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, then led by Fauci. Fouchier described the resulting pathogen as “probably one of the most dangerous viruses you can make.”
That description was hardly reassuring to Americans concerned about scientists manufacturing more dangerous viruses in laboratories.
The research ignited a debate over whether its possible scientific benefits could ever justify the catastrophic consequences of an accidental escape.
New York Times science writer Phil Boffey raised alarms about what he called an “engineered doomsday” that could kill “hundreds of millions of people.”
He also noted that the National Institutes of Health had its own reputation on the line because taxpayers financed the experiments.
Fauci was not amused by the criticism.
In a March 4, 2012, email to then NIH Director Francis Collins, Fauci wrote, “Phil Boffey is really off base here,” before adding, “He is acting like a mischievous guy.”
The next morning, Fauci complained about Boffey to a subordinate.
“Clearly, people are getting to Phil Boffey and he is swallowing it,” Fauci wrote, suggesting the journalist had been influenced by critics of the risky research.
Fauci then reportedly instructed the subordinate to delete the email and remove it from the deleted messages folder.
That is not exactly the sort of direction likely to restore confidence in government transparency, especially when the correspondence concerned federally financed research with enormous public safety implications.
The disclosure raises fresh questions about Fauci’s handling of official communications and whether government records were properly preserved.
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Senator Rand Paul, a Kentucky Republican and persistent Fauci critic, has previously pointed to two other instances in which Fauci allegedly sought to erase government communications.
Fauci testified before Congress in 2024 that he had not destroyed official records.
The newly disclosed instruction now gives lawmakers and investigators another reason to examine the paper trail rather than simply accept polished testimony from Washington officials.
Separate documents have also revealed cooperation between NIAID and the Central Intelligence Agency on sensitive virus research and biological threat projects during Fauci’s tenure.
The records described an arrangement involving the CIA Biological Technology Center and NIAID work on “forensic microbiology.”
Under that arrangement, the CIA could reportedly assist in obtaining biological agents.
The agency also controlled whether certain research data could be released by NIAID, creating another layer of secrecy around projects involving dangerous pathogens and national security interests.
Fauci eventually succeeded in pushing for Fouchier’s controversial bird flu research to be published in full.
Years later, Fouchier participated in private discussions with Fauci and other scientists about the origins of COVID 19.
Fouchier also contributed arguments associated with the influential “Proximal Origin” paper, which argued that a laboratory origin was unlikely.
That connection is certain to draw additional scrutiny from those who believe federal officials and favored scientists worked aggressively to steer public discussion away from the laboratory theory.
Pressure surrounding Fauci’s former agency has continued to build.
Several weeks ago, his former senior adviser David Morens pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States by concealing information about COVID 19 origins and attempting to evade Freedom of Information Act requests.
The latest records deepen concerns about a culture of secrecy inside powerful federal health institutions.
When officials discussing dangerous research allegedly reach for the delete button, taxpayers are entitled to ask what else vanished before congressional investigators, journalists, or the public could see it.
