"During the early period of the Cold War, the CIA became convinced that communists had discovered a drug or technique that would allow them to control human minds. "
When I read it I actually tried to imagine how it was to live back then and to act based on rumors.
It was a crazy time to be a secret agent that's for sure
this is an interesting way of looking at things -- to compare the potential discovery of mind control to the investigation of a long time grifter. Your phrasing almost makes it seem as if there is just as much truth to each "rumour".
The CIA is so ideologically brainwashed themselves that they end up doing things like this, they often can't see the simple truth right in front of them.
When I read it I actually tried to imagine how it was to live back then and to act based on rumors. It was a crazy time to be a secret agent that's for sure