i don't know if i'm smart enough, but i'm sure i'm lazy enough to not try solve the puzzles…
they've been doing this test puzzles for years,but there was never a reason to why they do it. It only attracts people that want a challenge, without knowing the true consequences of their actions. You need to have good knowledge about cryptography,steganography, history, classic world literature, and you need patience, loads of it.
The thing for me is…this could be a crime syndicate of america as much as it could be a justice league. they never said that they want something "good" or "bad" , the only clear thing is that they want smart people. this shit could be an alien secret fighting force as far as i know. And this is what really bothers me…
If you want smart people and you want to keep a secret, you lurk. you lurk and contact people privately. Throwing a public tournament will only show that they want people to know you exist and want people speculating about, in other words it's marketing. And destroy a good amount of chances over the "surprise effect" if the plan is about something big. If this is not a F.B.I.(or similar governmental institution) recruitment plan, i'm sure that institutions like this have been looking into it for some time now…anyone can try and solve the puzzles, a team of agents can try and solve…showing that:it's really a recruitment plan, or they just don't care. it's interesting, you have people putting so much effort in it, and they don't explain why. And on the other hand there was not a single soul that solved all puzzles and talked about it, or even better, there was no one that saw the "reveal cicada" a better puzzle to solve. it could be something really big and 2 years from now they're launching nukes all over the place, but as for now, i just really want that when the countdown ends, the "puzzle" don't vanish, and instead they give some answers. would be really nice and polite.