I don't think it's so much about "the government" having an ego, so much as them not wanting foreign powers to know how much or how little they know about forei

I don't think it's so much about "the government" having an ego, so much as them not wanting foreign powers to know how much or how little they know about foreign test flight programs or about not wanting to reveal our own test flight programs to foreign powers. That's why you never confirm nor deny anything. You don't want you enemies to know what you know or what you don't know.