> The real question people should be asking is "why now?" why is the PR spectacle happening at this moment and who is benefitting from supplying the NYTimes with this compromising information.

I would view this as a vague and fairly useless question. Yes, the admin knew about it an year ago, and still nothing happened, and there is no reason to think this would've been out in full force if the NYT article didn't come out. One could ask the same question "why now?" if NYT article came out in March instead of November. The answer might be fairly mundane -- once a 'newsworthy' front page article comes out, everyone wants to run with whatever headline that gets them the most clicks and 'mindshare'. A fancy version of Nightcrawler so to speak.

If past performance is an indication of any competence -- 9/11 prediction, catching Bin Laden, WTC bomber, or even catching the LBNL hacker -- it is quite clear many of these govt agencies are mediocre at best, but they are experts in hiding their incompetence behind the veil of importance such as national security, and furthermore, there are masses of flag-worshipers that cheer them on. In most elite corporate setups, they would be classified as professional bullshit artists by most employees and promoted quickly ;)