While you certainly have a point, one that might be particularly attractive to one of Rickover's nuclear engineers, I'd counter by pointing out the long and storied history of "spies" and how they made critical differences in war throughout the ages up into the Cold War in the '60s (at least).
On the other hand, ULTRA was officially declassified in 1974 and in 1977 one might still have the conceit that the NSA could break ComBlock ciphers.
All in all, though, I would suspect that the greater motivation was neutering the icky parts of the CIA that the Democratic party turned on post-1968. Insane on its face "satellites could do most anything a person could do" sounds more like a justification and/or rationalization.
On the other hand, ULTRA was officially declassified in 1974 and in 1977 one might still have the conceit that the NSA could break ComBlock ciphers.
All in all, though, I would suspect that the greater motivation was neutering the icky parts of the CIA that the Democratic party turned on post-1968. Insane on its face "satellites could do most anything a person could do" sounds more like a justification and/or rationalization.