I believe I read that Blum book decades ago—probably have an old paperback around here somewhere.
There was and remains a lot of confusion about what is “official” .gov vs what is just “hobbyists” who happen to work for .gov.—and whether their “hobby” is a real hobby or just a cover story for whatever agency they work for at a time.
Compartmentalization and “special access” programs combined with disinformation along with a little sprinkling on con artists and deluded crazies has created a mess—true Alice in Wonderland stuff.
I got thinking about it, and I don’t think I have the book itself, but rather, somewhere, a cassette audiobook version. Wonder where that is? I could digitize it and thumb drive it for the car.