There’s a dimension to this that you’re not considering: what you care about most as a government is that no one else gets a lead on you (that is, relative adva

There’s a dimension to this that you’re not considering: what you care about most as a government is that no one else gets a lead on you (that is, relative advantage). The difficulty you identify isn’t such an issue if you’re just trying the things in the same realm that other people are suggesting/investigating, to make sure that you don’t fall behind.