It's highly unlikely that so many smart people are being harassed 'because they said something unwise'. These people know very well to keep their mouth shut at

It's highly unlikely that so many smart people are being harassed 'because they said something unwise'. These people know very well to keep their mouth shut at the border, which is a sad thing in itself. How often is the person being harassed an accountant and how often is it a security researcher? Joe Random also complains on Reddit about being harassed and their stories are upvoted just as much. Still a few categories stick out. I can't explain that, unless they are being harassed, because of what they do or believe in when not travelling. Of course, this harassment doesn't accomplish anything. If these people were truly a threat, the FBI would stake them out, the CIA would make them disappear or the NSA would hire them. Them being harassed at the border once more illustrates the weirdness of the TSA and border patrol. Their employees seem to suffer from the group delusion that harassing people will keep them from doing security research or being a danger to the United States. I don't understand their motivation. They give the US a bad name and they achieve nothing. The actual security agencies know better than that. You may disagree with their practices and beliefs, but they at least give the impression of being mostly competent and efficient in achieving sensible goals. The current news around a 0-day cryptographic breakthrough being incorporated in Flame doesn't result in "I never expected that", but in "Go figure".