That was in the beginning, when they were just trying this and that.
If they had any clue what it would turn into they would have kept it all to themselves.
And trust me- I was there for FIDONET.
Before they knew what was happening it had grown a million times over.
I worked for a military and NASA contractor at the time. We were in competition to design the DoD-I language that became Ada. Came in 2nd. But we used that network to communicate at the time.