I think the purpose of the plague work was to induce pneumonic plague in 1 or more individuals, to spread it as an airborn pathogen in airports and large metro areas in the US. These carriers would pass security because they carry no metallic or chemical weapons, just yersinia pestis in their lungs. Pneumonic plague is not quite as contagious as flu, but almost in an enclosed environment. Remember, until just a few years ago, the death rate from pneumonic plague was 100%. This shit will kill you really, really dead, fast. Think of a contagious, weaponised Anthrax, spread by airborn transmission from person to person, and you’ve got an idea of what they want. Garden variety bubonic plague spreads slowly and can be killed by antibiotics, the pneumonic version scares the shit out of pathologists and epidemiologists.
