Although this is a very plausible scenario, I'm not sure it's the "simpler" answer. It requires an incredible political will in favor of an extraordinarily con

Although this is a very plausible scenario, I'm not sure it's the "simpler" answer. It requires an incredible political will in favor of an extraordinarily controversial set of programs. It seems to me that the "simpler" explanation is that these programs, whose existence and scope are no longer in dispute, have indeed generated intelligence about questionable conduct of members of / leadership of one or both houses of congress.