There’s no doubt about it: three letter agencies like the NSA, FBI and CIA and the ones we don’t yet know about are full of great people who want nothing but the best for their fellow human beings. People join these agencies because they have good hearts, and want to see the world thrive in a state of peace, equality, abundance and freedom.

They say that most of the world’s real dangers arise not because of what people don’t know but because of what they do «know» that just ain’t so. As a case in point, consider three things about Korea that the bipartisan Washington establishment seems quite sure of but are far removed from reality: