But, going along with the decode hypothesis, these kids were being groomed to become terrorists, with cameras and moles embedded, feeding the feds with information. A survivor could become a loose cannon. Surviving such a trauma as the cult being rolled up, could mean the child could be a terrorist for, or against, the Larger cult that was a buyer of these children. The feds could not afford such unpredictability.

The whole story reminds me of a German book 'Krabat' that came out in the late seventies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krabat_(novel)