Biological weapons present an existential threat more dangerous than nuclear arms, with research labs proliferating globally and the barrier to entry now so low that a high school student could theoretically engineer a pathogen in a basement—yet America has shifted focus away from oversight and enforcement of international treaties. Gain-of-function research, officially framed as developing medical countermeasures, is essentially biological weapons engineering according to subject matter experts, yet the U.S. government funded millions in such research through institutions like EcoHealth Alliance.