The weird stuff was definitely the CIA, and not say, I dunno... the questionable life choices of someone who hung out with Jim Jones and hippy commune cult leaders.
Yeah, snide-ness aside, you'd be suprised what happened in the 1970s among the 'hip' crowd in San Francisco....
Ever know about Charlie Manson's CIA fixers, for example? (haight street SF) - I dont have time to give you a history lesson on the CIA and silicon valley...
Go apply at palantir if you want to know what is going on....
The CIA are assholes, and they do routinely violate the rights of Americans (even today, though it was probably worse decades ago).
But their interests are narrow. What about that would have piqued their curiosity? If you are right, does that mean one of the hippies was some Soviet asset? And even then, that's got to be the worst cover story ever. On the other hand, the Feebs were really bad at counterintel tradecraft, but it's difficult to imagine them being sophisticated enough to pull off an academic cover like that.
Maybe I was harsh. Near as I can tell, almost all of those agencies were into some seriously stupid shit (when did they give up on psychic phenomena research again?), but it still just doesn't strike me as plausible. I've having trouble processing it.
If you ever do write that book, plug it here so I have a chance of noticing it, would ya?
