Who has heard of the Smith Mundt Act or more recently the Smith Mundt Modernization Act of 2012? https://www.congress.gov/bill/112th-congress/house-bill/5736/text
Apparently, at one time it was illegal for American spooks to lie to the American public. But with the 2012 Act, the CIA can tell Americans any old thing the want, and they do, and they tell everyone that its the Russians.