Protest all you want.
Just show tax-payers how you spend the money (that won't actually, actually and really and truly compromise your competitivness with the competition). A billion a year is still a billion each and every year. Pretty big chunk of allowance.
Kinda simple.
Funny, I didn't see you demanding transparency for the F-35 project?
You know, that $30 Billion dollar project.
Kinda simple.