Ah, the ol&#x27; COINTEL conspiracy (I use that word without its usual negative connotation).<p>I&#x27;m always surprised by people&#x27;s ability to assume &quot;the Government isn&#x27;t corrupt <i>this time</i>!&quot; after time and time and time and time (and time and time)... and time... and time... and time again, the Government <i>was</i> &quot;that corrupt that time&quot;. While it should never be assumed that <i>they for certain are</i>, it should always <i>remain a possibility</i> until reasonably argued against.<p>Of course, one can&#x27;t prove a negative - so the line of where it has been &quot;reasonably argued against&quot; is a very gray area. It&#x27;s easy to cross the line into &quot;full-blown looney conspiracist&quot;.<p>Which, going along the COINTEL mindset, is exactly what a Government would want: The general population dismissing <i>anyone</i> critical of the government as being a looney nutcase...because the Government couldn&#x27;t <i>possibly</i> be corrupt.<p>As someone who has read too much into COINTEL operations and literature (and at one point wanted to right a book about various COINTEL tactics) - it&#x27;s really hard to dismiss ideas like the one you bring up - even on grounds of &quot;there&#x27;s no evidence for that&quot;.