Also it buys heavily into another overdone television trope -- the evil government agency conspiracy. I wish television writers would stop it already with this trope. I found it old in the 1980s. Also, they clearly have never worked for a government organization -- or they'd realize how hard it would be to have a conspiracy like this and keep it secret in this day and age.

I agree. People can't keep secrets, period. But look at the vast right-wing conspiracy theories being pushed by the Republican party right now: the Russians didn't hack the DNC--it was really the Democrats, trying to set up Trump for a fall. The Democrats are running a child trafficking ring out of a restaurant in DC i.e. pizzagate. Logic doesn't apply in real life, let alone TV plots.