Analysts and historians would recall the last time ’bogeyman’ hysteria gripped an unwary public; USA of the nineteen fifties and McCarthyism with the ‘red under the bed threat’ is now one of history's embarrassing moments. Joe McCarthy, puppet of ultra-right forces in the US, ruined numerous careers and lives – for nothing! The degree of 'threat’ attributed to the 'reds' proved to be wildly exaggerated, more a product of excited 'judgement' or shared delusion than accurate assessment. US intelligence agencies and ultra-right militarists fell victim to their own propaganda and the (dis)information warfare waged at the time.