That doesn't make any sense. You get three or four of those, and you ask what explanation might be perfectly concealed under these three or four things. Once I've figured that much out, the research can be more focused. And pretty soon, it becomes an exercise in resisting paranoia because you'll find that your research genuinely does seem to support whatever goofy theory you've come up with. The Publishers Weekly review aside, it would seem like a spy novel would be the perfect platform for that process because there's so much mystery left after the fact.
Every historical detail is shrouded in secrecy and double-talk.
The whole purpose of anything spies do is to be duplicitous. Whatever espionage agency x was trying to accomplish, it was certainly not what they seemed to be trying to accomplish. It was made to order for this. I probably could have written ten books of this kind of business set in the Cold War. Actually, I'll probably write at least one more before I'm done.