It wasn't that long ago that things happened. You are partially correct that the technology was created by professionals often employed by three letter agencies. However, it wasn't done with their permission.

The original author at some point feared that bitcoin would be the end of his career, eventually killed himself in the middle of a heavy depression.

That coin wasn't encrypted/private simply because he didn't had the knowledge to make it happen. That tech only materialized a few years later with Monero.

Eventually the feds found great benefit in promoting that transparent coin, all drug transaction were for a few years really easy to track until the darkweb stopped using bitcoin, they still keep promoting it because it isn't that different to other coins under their control.