Basically this. The project head might be a bit too paranoid, bellicose and problematic, but at this time a phone with GrapheneOS seems to be by far the safest way to have a smartphone, and the project head's personality might be a part on this as their stated objective is to be able to resist state-level actors, you likely need someone who's more than a bit "out there" to have the right mind for this

Can we get a tldr of the "problematic behaviours"?

As a casual who bought a pixel 9 specifically for Graphene, I not too embedded in the culture/dramas, and surely many others reading here are similarly unfamiliar