With all the conversation about AI and bio right now, you need to go read Biohazard by Ken Alibek. Absolutely insane stories about monkeys, lab leaks, and national paranoia.
The Soviet biological weapons program employed ~60,000 people. A single facility was built with the capacity to produce ~300 metric tons of weapons-grade anthrax in 10 months.
For all the attention we give nuclear weapons, biological weapons feel strangely under-discussed. This is one of the scariest things I’ve ever read about. It still blows my mind that this actually happened.