The US Military will merrily chase any proposal that promises them bigger guns, and most certainly chases after the proposal that promises them an ultimate weapon.
Money is no object.
Massive and brutally enforced secrecy campaigns have and do occur. As anyone who has gone through a divorce will tell you, staying married might have been the easier route. Because the rumors spreading about put aliens in control of underground activities, the anxiety level of the populace was increased. But some of the rumors put forth by humans wanting the populace to keep aliens at arms length had given a distinctly opposite impression - human body parts floating in vats and the like. MJ12, as with other arms of the government, does not always work as a unit, and has at times pulled in different directions.