I believe most/if not all bacteria is killed at the recommended temps for cooking chicken/pork which is 160 or so?

yep and even lower with USDA meats ... pork, hamburger and egg dishes 165

Killing bacteria is a product of time and temperature. Most all bacteria is killed almost instantly at 160°F. The same amount of bacteria is killed if you hold the meat at say 135°F for a few minutes. That's why I love my Sous Vide machine. I can cook chicken to 150°F and know I'm not overcooking the thinner parts of the meat just to cook the middle. Cooking to 200°F is way overkill to destroy bacteria.

Also, just to throw out my opinion, there is not a magical internal temperature that you should hit. I've had plenty of briskets finish at 190°F that were far better than a lot of my briskets that finished ~205°F. Every brisket is different.

Brisket is really a pretty easy piece of meat to cook. With very little practice you can turn out a good brisket. It's the little things that make that brisket go from really good to great. Great briskets are the really elusive prize in smoking. Fortunately, a really good brisket is still damn good to eat.

Yes, indeed! Time is the key and most people do not understand that.

I will add that with the exception of some exotics that are of no concern to us, all human pathogens are destroyed at 170F, virtually instantaneously. Yes, 99% are destroyed at 160F in 30-60 seconds.

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