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Almost everyone over 50 is vaccinated, as well as certain portions of the military (I hope it’s the most lethal guys and not paper pushers in the Pentagon) as well as many lab workers in high level research labs.

Releasing smallpox would be a super stupid act that would result in severe global backlash to the miscreants responsible. Smallpox has a 50-80% fatality rate in children (the younger the child the higher the rate).

I don’t think anyone can count on the military or law enforcement to follow their orders when their children are dying of the disease they released. There would be a coup and summary executions.
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Hate to rain on your parade, but I am not certain the vaccine is lifelong...Eh have to consider the sources...

Smallpox vaccination can protect you from smallpox for about 3 to 5 years. After that time, its ability to protect you decreases. If you need long-term protection, you may need to get a booster vaccination.

www.cdc.gov › smallpox › vaccine-basics

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Given that the majority of Americans under the age of 35 years have never been vaccinated against smallpox and the great majority of those over 35 have not received booster vaccinations since the early 1970s, immunity to smallpox is considered to be low to nonexistent in today’s population.

Immunity from Smallpox Vaccine Persists for Decades - NCBI - NIHwww.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › pmc › articles › PMC2610468

When the post-eradication bliss was replaced with the possible Soviet preservation panic there was much discussion as to how much, if any protection decades old vaccination provided. Surviving natural smallpox gave lifelong immunity. The old vaccine was known not to provide Full lifelong immunity. When the disease was circulating folks got periodic repeat vaccinations.

Researchers obviously couldn’t prove immunity by exposing folks to it. But they did scour the old literature and tested blood in previously vaccinated folks to provide as good a guess as ethics allowed. IIRC their conclusion was that distant vaccination wasn’t likely to prevent you from getting smallpox, but it might significantly reduce the risk of death from it. Which makes sense. Surviving smallpox is a race between the virus and your immune system. To the extent any useful memory B or T cells survive the latter can accelerate quicker, even though their initial quantities may not prevent an early viral lead.