Like any place there's some goofy people or policies but if you look into closely who's got all the work for the 2nd round of moon trips and the first human to Mars trips and you'll see that NASA has indeed "gone totally public". (Actually, if you think about it, its the other way around). In the new exploration NASA will be basically only be administering it. (Never mind we've already been to those places several times). This is one of the reasons I lurk on this list, its where I used to work before the new space exploration schemes (that "redirected other NASA funding") and why I'm having/wanting/trying to get back into flying.