Stephen wrote:
Another possibility is that Blake's R&D work on the Aquitar project was done in a university (post-doctoral work, say) and he got involved in the rebel movement via a radical student society. A group of younger people would be less likely to see a 27 year old as too young to be a resistance leader.
Well, yes, this coincides with my private 'fanon'. I also tend to assume that there was a certain deal of disagreement between Blake and Foster - that Foster was in favour of some kind of peaceful civil disobedience (like the meddling with food rations suggested in TWB), while Blake favoured armed resistance and naturally, this was more attractive for the younger members of the party. They may have split into two fractions, which might explain why Foster wasn't caught when Blake was.
N.