While ubiquitous surveillance seems like a deterrent, meticulous predators can circumvent it. Israel Keyes operated post-9/11 by carefully managing his digital footprint. Other criminals evade detection by targeting marginalized victims who receive less law enforcement attention, or by physically removing surveillance equipment from crime scenes.

Navy veteran Kai Ryssdal posits that the military doesn't create character from scratch. Instead, it serves as a crucible for individuals who already possess a sense of duty. The service refines, sharpens, and distills these pre-existing qualities, embedding them as a lifelong code of conduct.

To cope with the reality of raising a serial killer, Keyes's mother, a religious zealot, rationalized his actions as a divine message. She believed he was "put on this earth to warn humanity about the dangers of turning your back on God," a narcissistic survival instinct to absolve herself of responsibility.

Despite decades of research, the core question of "nature versus nurture" in creating a psychopath remains the central unsolved mystery for FBI criminal profilers. While killer Israel Keyes had an abusive childhood, his nine siblings did not become killers, underscoring the complexity and leaving experts without a definitive answer.

The game intentionally forced players through tedious training modules before they could access combat gameplay. This acted as a self-selection tool; players who disliked the structured, value-driven training were likely not the type of disciplined individuals the Army wanted to attract.

When police departments face severe staffing shortages due to cultural vilification, they may lower hiring standards. This can lead to hiring individuals with criminal backgrounds, who then commit heinous acts as officers, further damaging public trust and exacerbating the original problem.

Sleeper agents are trained from birth in simulated American towns in Russia. To create a legitimate identity, intelligence services take the name and birth date of an infant who died shortly after birth, allowing them to obtain a valid social security card and passport.

The CIA intentionally seeks individuals who can operate in legal and ethical gray areas, but not full-blown sociopaths who are uncontrollable. This trait enables them to perform tasks like breaking into foreign embassies, which a 'normal' person would refuse to do.

Unlike typical serial killers who have a preferred victim and operate in a specific area, Israel Keyes was dangerously unpredictable. He would fly to a random city, drive hundreds of miles to a pre-buried "kill kit," and abduct anyone, making his crimes nearly impossible to link or profile.