Yes, It was necessary part in your argumentation if you want to get political decision and make your position safe from your opponents before they strike first.

From middle 30s to early 60s there was a period in USSR, when authorities were intensively "regulating" science using insane "political" criteria and some polluted scientists or quasi-scientists used it as a weapon against their opponents.

Most prominent result of such regulation was the destruction of Soviet genetics and cybernetics, which at some point were keeping world leading positions. Some people argue that it was actually the main cause why USSR lost the cold war.