Dulles knew exactly what he was doing: a dire report about a Soviet lead in the missile race would prompt congressional outcry and lead to increased dollars for the CIA’s espionage capabilities. Dulles therefore gave Johnson and his fellow committee member Stuart Symington a magnificent opportunity to use the still-raw intelligence the CIA had gathered to damage the Eisenhower administration. By the end of the hearings, a bleak picture had emerged: the scientists, the military experts, the engineers, and especially the top intelligence analysts now asserted that America faced mortal
