This was also a period of time when the USSR was attempting strange, non-traditional methods of espionage and intelligence gathering, which, like the space race

This was also a period of time when the USSR was attempting strange, non-traditional methods of espionage and intelligence gathering, which, like the space race, arms race, and everything else during the Cold War, prompted imitations and a race-to-better from CIA and the military. Who knows how many arcane, incredible projects were initiated on either side just for the benefit of having scattered, incomplete information filter through spooks back to the opponent's intelligence agency. There it would cause confusion, fear of being severely outpaced, and an urgency to throw resources into their best-that-we-can-piece-together version of the project in an attempt to catch-up and surpass. In existential warfare any and all bets are always on the table, and particularly in one that was already defined by massive resources spent in the pursuit of previously unbelievable scientific discovery.