I basically agree. I don't think the political mechanisms exist in the short-to-intermediate term to get salaries in government labs high enough. As you point out, the extent to which "civilians" will be willing to participate in these lines of work is an open question (said without judgement, just as an observation). Presumably folks who have opted-in to work at defense contractors will be more willing, but do they have the ability to attract a sufficient amount of talent in this area?