I think what he means is that , that of sort of logic may work for the average joe , but not even a locksmith might hold the top ranking US officials in such low esteem so as to even think of using ' magic numbers '. ' They certainly can ' t be that stupid '. At least that ' s the logic the US military hoped that their enemy followed , making their 00000000 unintutive . It like that famous Chinese strategist , whose name eludes me currently , sitting on the city gates with a lyre . The enemy thinks he ' s set up a trap and retreats , but there wasn ' t any trap . He ' s just there with a lyre . <| sep |> Why doesn ' t anyone understand this ? There are precedents for tech founders turning against their company when they receive a gag order ! Here is the only cogent explanation of what happened