I agree, your point is compatible with my view. My sense is that this essentially an optimization question within how a government ought to structures its contracts with builders of weapons. The current system is definitely suboptimal (put mildly) and corrupt.
The integrity of a free society's government is the central issue here, not the creation of tools which could be militarily useful to a free society.
Long-term safety also entails restraining the military-industrial complex from the excesses it's always prone to.
Remember, Teller wanted to make a 10 gigaton nuke. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundial_(weapon)