&gt; purchase a burner laptop with cash<p>Easy.<p>&gt; and not in sight of any cameras.<p>Almost impossible, unless you&#x27;re buying from a fence.  Laptops are high-value items; almost every place that sells them has cameras on the area where they are sold.<p>&gt; Is this sufficient operational security to remain totally anonymous against every reasonable threat save for an extremely motivated nation state?<p>You go to those extremes, and you&#x27;re likely to motivate a nation state...