genetically modified himself to gain superpowers,

To be fair, said superpowers weren't the kind of thing that would make him a viable supersoldier or unstoppable terrorist like Kahn.

Admiral: About this Stamets guy, can we review the footage of his illegal genetic modification powers?

:: watches video log of Stamets taking Discovery through shroom-space ::

Admiral: Ow, fuck, that looks incredibly painful. These mods are only good for this one task? And he can only do it with that machine, from that room, on that specific ship? And he's okay with doing this to himself every time?! Yeah, we're good.

It does help if you're the only one who can successfully operate top secret technology.

I figured getting their asses handed to them by the klingons helped.