People are trying to live freely outside of, or within a system that maybe for them on a day-to-day level isn't as free... I definitely think we're positively orientated.
The human spy, in terms of the American espionage effort, had never been terribly pertinent.
Time spent researching varies from book to book. Some novels require months, even years of research, others very little. I try to do most of my research before I begin but inevitably questions emerge during the writing.