Indeed, and poor journalism, why put the guy's name in "" like it's not his name or he doesn't exist, he has even given interviews on his patents and his views on Bitcoin. Besides, old story:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/tatsuaki-okamoto-satoshi-nakamoto-235289
somebody from the Economist just had a pressing deadline on delivering some article.
But imagine this being true, some users around here might need some extra pills if they find out the thing that was supposed to overthrow the government is a tool leaked by the government to control the masses! And sheeple becomes a new kind of meme.
What is more likely is that this rumor that it is to "control the masses" is being spread by "agencies" because they know that bitcoin is a tool that allows the masses to avoid the control by the governments, protect themselves, their assets and families, be pseudo-anonymous, and be secure from censorship of payments. Reverse psychology here.