In the heyday of that military funding, the military wanted the plutonium. Now the military mostly wants to get rid of plutonium because it is a liability if it gets into the wrong hands. Thorium reactors are one of the few ways to get rid of plutonium, so maybe they'll fund this too! (/dreamy optimism)
This is dubious. The cheapest way to "get rid" of weapons-grade plutonium is to dilute it as fuel in conventional reactors (so-called "MOX fuel" -- MOX for "mixed oxide", mixture of uranium and plutonium). It's not difficult. This doesn't make economic sense, and has no other benefit, but it does convert weapons-grade plutonium into non-weapons-grade plutonium; and this is politically correct. (Non-weapons grade means: too much thermal, radioactive, and neutron contamination to be practical for weapons.) This is pure politicking, unless you think (e.g.) the US Air Force is in danger of terrorist pirates stealing its nuclear weapons.
The US is doing exactly this: (NNSA is the National Nuclear Security Administration)
