![Gottlieb says COVID origins may never be known, urges intelligence gathering to spot future pandemics](https://cbsnews3.cbsistatic.com/hub/i/r/2021/09/17/89beafe1-525d-456b-a607-5956e71a5853/thumbnail/1200x630/c6a1d7cd73f00640b5cf7a56461e8ce7/0917-ftn-cdc-gottlieb-795104-640x360.jpg)
Gottlieb says COVID origins may never be known, urges intelligence gathering to spot future pandemics
CBSN
As officials seek to understand how the coronavirus pandemic emerged, one expert says that without more information from China, the world may never know.
"Either we find the intermediate host -- the animal that spread COVID -- or there's a whistleblower inside China. Or someone close to this, who knows that this came out of a lab, comes forward, defects, goes overseas, or we intercept some communication that we shouldn't have had access to. Absent something like that, we're not going to be able to answer this question" says Scott Gottlieb, who served as F.D.A. Commissioner under former President Trump.
"This is going to be a battle of competing narratives," Gottlieb told "Face the Nation" moderator Margaret Brennan in an exclusive interview airing Sunday about his upcoming book: "Uncontrolled Spread: Why COVID-19 Crushed Us and How We Can Defeat the Next Pandemic".
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On the eve of the D-Day invasion, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower spent the remaining hours of daylight with the paratroopers who were about to jump behind German lines into occupied France. A single moment captured by an Army photographer became the most enduring image of America's greatest military operation.
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This story previously aired on March 6, 2016. Child Advocate: Do you know why you are here today? 911 operator: 911. What is your emergency? 911 operator: Is there anybody else in the house with you? Robin Doan [to 911]: I so hope my mom is not dead. Robin Doan [to 911]: Please can you just send somebody out here? Robin Doan [to 911]: I'm cold. I'm very cold. Robin Doan [to 911]: I heard my mama scream ... Robin Doan [to 911]: I want my mom. I want my mom. Robin Doan [to 911]: It's on Highway 70. It's about 13.3 miles out from the bowling alley. I have a purple shirt on I have purple pants on. Robin Doan [to 911]: All I want right now is my blanket and my pillow. ... I see him. I see him. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I really don't want to go to sleep anymore. It makes me to where I'm too scared. I really don't want to go to sleep. OK. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: He had shot in my room and missed me. Advocate: Did you hear anybody say anything. Could you hear anybody talking? Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I don't know this for sure but I thought I saw a white eyes ... a white face. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: And when he shot I saw a flash. Robin Doan [advocate interview]: I can't talk about it. It's too heartbreaking. Levi King interrogation: Before I even realized it, I mean, I'd just pointed it at him and fired.