Is your implication that smart, clueful people are never evil? Of course, you can always find an apologist who will explain that any given regime wasn't or isn't evil, so how would you test that?
On the flip side of your statement, I think evil, oppressive regimes hire very smart and talented people.
This has nothing to do with breaking crypto. The breaking is done in an oubliette.
Or, they'll use a TEMPEST attack to read your screen without you even knowing it. Or they'll use a similar attack to read your keystrokes wirelessly.
Or, they'll get you in a room and use a $5 wrench on your face until you tell them what they want to know.
Breaking encryption is far down the list of techniques that are worthwile to oppressive regimes.
Once you've carried out this analysis, you know on who you can apply the more realworld techniques that you suggest.