Earlier quoted context omitted.
They worked for one of NASA's contractors, not NASA itself. Have you been involved in the hiring process? Most of the people actively looking for work don't have a job for a reason. It's not 'insulting' to see if you can even vaguely do the job in an interview. There's only so much vetting you can do before the 'can you vaguely code your way out of a wet paper bag' step. Also: you didnt used to work in Boulder recent…
Yes I have been involved in that process at multiple companies. If they were in for an actual onsite interview the only thing I cared about was how they effectively they communicate and their thought process to a problem. Vetting isn't hard, the phone screen should have already done that well before a single line of code is written. No I have never worked in Boulder.
The candidates you're trying to avoid are really good at passing a phone screen since they have a lot of experience at it, constantly looking for jobs.