Paul Linebarger was an anti-communist intelligence operative who helped define U.S. psychological operations, or psyops, during World War II and the Cold War. In his books for the public, he wrote many stories about the Instrumentality, a totalitarian intergalactic empire that is toppled by rebels like Sun Yat-Sen, as well as cyborg insurrectionists. He was an agent of what some would now call the “deep state”.