If that's the case, it's much more subtle: No HUAC, no blacklisting, no "are you or have you ever been a member of...?"

That true. You could also make the argument that historically it hasn't been so easy to expose US government secrets to the world. So, maybe we're actually entering an era of greater (involuntary) transparency and we're actually witnessing a backlash to this as opposed to a renewed attempt at subduing dissidents.