I get your reticence. But to explain what I mean let's take Russiagate.
No, there was no Star Chamber that dreamed up this nonsense. It did probably have its roots in the "Intelligence Community" (looking at you John Brennan), but it served a variety of interests: the Hillary campaign creeps who wanted to explain their loss to a clown who wasn't even trying to win, the Neocons who wanted to ratchet up a cold war with the Russians, the news media who wanted to capture PMC ratings, etc...