Whether or not they weaponized the tick, you simply have to ask yourself, would weaponizing a tick fall within their research and development goals? The answer is a HUGE YES.

It's called entomological warfare and they researched it in depth:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unethical_human_experimentation_in_the_United_States#Pathogens,_disease_and_biological_warfare_agents

Now they are engineering mosquitoes to carry vaccines.

Now they are engineering edible mRNA in plants.