The author sounds a tad paranoid, unless he's privy to aspects of the government's interest in this that the general public is unaware of.
Why wouldn't the government be interested? Why wouldn't we WANT the government to be interested.
Those interested in science benefit financially and are able to do much more research because of the government's approval and interest of the space program.
The government profits, as does many others, with the type of information the space program gathers. (for example think military) Such interests force technological advances and the production of information and items that are beneficial in many ways.
Chrys