The American department of Homeland Security recently called on the skills of respected SciFi writers to assist them in brain storming on new ways to defeat contraband smugglers, illegal aliens (of the human variety, at least publicly 😉 ) and, of course, terrorists.
A spokesman at the Homeland Security’s Science and Technology sector stated that “we need to look everywhere for ideas, and science-fiction writers clearly inform the debate”.
The writers attended a conference, were not paid and presumably had to pass internal security reviews before being allowed to attend