The fear and reputation of the Russian military/nuclear program/spying apparatus has often done more damage historically than the effectiveness of those program

The fear and reputation of the Russian military/nuclear program/spying apparatus has often done more damage historically than the effectiveness of those programs. For example, because the CIA couldn't find evidence for the nukes and infra for deployment which they thought that Russia possessed (or could possess), they began to think the silos were just very cleverly disguised as mundane structures like farm silos, church architecture (IIRC), etc. Apparently they spent a lot of resources going down that rabbithole before realizing Russia simply wasn't that capable. Or how everyone was potentially a Soviet spy or secret communist; it got to the point that you could ruin a career just by suggesting it. This fear did more damage to the average American than any spies did.