[eastof]

We haven't always been awful at keeping secrets, see the actual Manhattan Project. I like the optimism of your proposal, but how would those US companies continue the same level of R&D investment without those extra profits? If the government just directly invests, then you've just become the enemy.

[christophilus]

Didn’t the actual Manhattan Project leak to the USSR?

[expedition32]

Yep Stalin literally got daily reports about it. He probably knew as much as Roosevelt.