If someone has such super technology, why patent it so people can easily steal the idea with a google search? Why not keep it secret and use it to fuel a giddy ride to the top of the power hierarchy?
1) become an employee somewhere that will pay for all your patent applications.
2) have some sort of reward system so that filed patent applications are counted positively on an employee review, or have a modest financial gain (some employees have from modest to substantial gains for filing patents)
3) have unofficial reward systems (such as peer respect) that also benefit the employee
4) "person with most filed patent applications" or "person with most really cool applications" leads to employee rise to power.
"Given what we know about secret space programs developed by the US Navy and Air Force respectively, electromagnetic propulsion systems have been used for decades in several crafts that operate both in space and underwater. The reason why Dr. Pais chose not to mark the patent applications secret was that senior Navy officials have decided the time had come for the disclosure of advanced electromagnetic propulsion technologies that were already in operation, rather than merely innovative proposals for future development as suggested in the patent application."
Personally, I believe that the "UFO" seen by the Navy pilot Commander David Fravor was a Navy craft. I don't think it was extraterrestrial in origin.
Hence, "secret space programs."
UFOlogy is a form of religious cult?