Frank Herbert's "Operation Haystack" (novelette, free): Spy exposes a secret society

I got a feeling there is an undercurrent here, & it is a general comment on women's character. But I don't know the atmosphere in US when this story was written; someone familiar with the period will likely see more here.

While the plot itself is not much, it's a fast moving spy story: a government agent exposes a very old secret society of women with Arabic roots, determined to achieve a single goal - political control of the galaxy.

Fact sheet.

First published: Astounding, May 1959.
Download full text from Project Gutenberg, Manybooks, Feedooks.
Rating: B.
Among the stories from Astounding/Analog issues edited by John Campbell.
Related: Stories of Frank Herbert.