It’s a classic move by totalitarian states, Fascist Italy and the Soviet Union used the same tactic (North Korea continues to use it). And unfortunately it was pretty effective. No one really believed the people shut away were actually crazy, but they sure were scared of being disappeared to an “asylum”, “psychiatric facility”, or “reeducation camp”.

Arguably the air force was also just too scared of flying wings to give them the development they needed rather than the tech being unsolvable at the time. It’s a shame that none of the prototypes were preserved