Integrating Steve, repatriating Steve isn't their goal. They think they've gotten their Weapon back from the ice. He'll have a harder time slipping his leash if he can't blend in.
What we do see results from him being kept so close, he has a subtle knowledge of what is and isn't normal for SHIELD. He is primed to observe from only seeing a subset. He's learned some things just from being out and about; he knows that white men can slouch about, wear ball caps and even a big slab like himself disappears. He'd have had a harder time doing that in the late 1940s, without finding a bunch of college boys to hide among (you know, men properly fed since childhood).
Steve is very bad at following orders once he has reason to question them. He's part cat.
Re: BRILLIANT idea!
What we do see results from him being kept so close, he has a subtle knowledge of what is and isn't normal for SHIELD. He is primed to observe from only seeing a subset. He's learned some things just from being out and about; he knows that white men can slouch about, wear ball caps and even a big slab like himself disappears. He'd have had a harder time doing that in the late 1940s, without finding a bunch of college boys to hide among (you know, men properly fed since childhood).
Steve is very bad at following orders once he has reason to question them. He's part cat.