Perhaps it also had to do with the extreme risk of collecting equivalent data in the US, whereas the Soviets had similar programs already operating for decades

Perhaps it also had to do with the extreme risk of collecting equivalent data in the US, whereas the Soviets had similar programs already operating for decades at that point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_biological_weapons_program https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_biological_weapons_prog... So the CIA had no other way to get that data, whereas the Soviets did.