There are several signals the government might be trying to send that come to mind:
It may be only one government agency or department, or a small set of agencies/departments, that are currently focused on the control problem. They may also still need to work on other tasks with government agencies/departments that have national security as the greatest priority. Even if a department internally thinks about the control problem in terms of global security, they may want to publicly reinforce national security as a top priority to keep a good working relationship with other departments they work closely with.
Whatever arms of the government are focused on the control problem may be signaling to the public or electorate, or politicians more directly accountable to the public/electorate, to remain popular and retain access to resources.
There are several signals the government might be trying to send that come to mind:
It may be only one government agency or department, or a small set of agencies/departments, that are currently focused on the control problem. They may also still need to work on other tasks with government agencies/departments that have national security as the greatest priority. Even if a department internally thinks about the control problem in terms of global security, they may want to publicly reinforce national security as a top priority to keep a good working relationship with other departments they work closely with.
Whatever arms of the government are focused on the control problem may be signaling to the public or electorate, or politicians more directly accountable to the public/electorate, to remain popular and retain access to resources.