[Girlene]

In my view, though, these things only look like a cover-up in hindsight.

I think that pretty much covers it. In Murtha's and Times Magazine world, a cover-up is whatever they say it is. The folks at NCIS who thought this was a good idea to charge coverup must not have been dealing with a full deck. They had the answers early on about Pool's press release from the Bargewell Report and from their own interview with Capt. Pool. They chose instead to follow Times lead, go to the dark side, and insist there was a coverup. If they hadn't drug so many lives through the mud, it would almost be funny how foolish their whole case is.

[RedRover]

The way NCIS handled this investigation goes back to the whole “Whack-A-Mole” idea. When exculpatory pops up, agents just whack it down.

BTW, I got some great material for a new “NCIS Funny” on that very theme.