I feel like this is just what the public / morons think. They believe what they see in TV shows and movies or bad spy novels. People with knowledge often like to share it. If you act a little dumb or sometimes if you act a bit arrogant about a subject they will "correct you" even if that might be something they should not share. They often will think it is harmless and it will never get anywhere or you might be too dumb to understand what they are really telling you. I could not think of another sub to put this in... If someone knows a better place for it. Please move it. Archive: https://archive.today/iuMg6 HN Post: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41669922 HN Archive: https://archive.today/JPgUW From the post: >>In the movies, spies are usually ripped hunks who carry lots of gadgets, like James Bond and Jason Bourne. That’s rarely the case in real life, however. When the Office of Strategic Services, the precursor to the CIA, was established in haste at the outset of WWII, the spies tapped to join were librarians, professors, and researchers quite literally pulled from college campuses.