John sold his soul for one more ride into space. A harder choice to make than you might think.
I agree with the first part--only the US citizen got sold out when he joined forces with Reno to keep secrets about the Chi Coms from damaging the Clinton administration. He didn't just get a ride worth $20M, he got debt forgiveness from the DNC to the order of $3M.
What I disagree with is that he found the choice in any way difficult. Not only would some of these desperate pilots sell out the US, there's a lot who would kill for the ticket. Or, "mission"--as they'd prefer to call it.