I told you there'd be more about that general whipping dog, "national security," and this chapter's it.
As is so in most other areas of human activity, the field of government intelligence, however dim a view you may take of it, is not exclusively populated by assholes. No matter how fanatical some may be in their devotion to what they perceive as the "national interest," there's an underlying sense to the endeavor; in some ways it does truly involve itself in the preservation of our society and the protection of individual members thereof. Therefore, among those whom it attracts will naturally be some who are dedicated to that goal without mindless zealotry. I've tried to present one such as part of my story. As a writer, I'm not fond of setting up straw men to be tumbled over at my creative whim. Most fields of human activity include people across the normal spectrum of those you might encounter in a typical day, and it pleases me to depict this variety in my fiction writing.