&gt; is there some moral principle that all scientists should disclose everything and you can&#x27;t hire them for confidential work?<p>I think the argument is that released scientific knowledge is generally in the public&#x27;s interest, and since the research is in fact funded by the public, government scientists should be allowed to release whatever they want. The government is a public institution, so some feel that &quot;confidential government research&quot; should be restricted to very limited things.<p>That said, I do agree that it is all a bit overblown.