As presented, the above quote is vague. I would like to see the full context. For instance, who is being referred to by the word "their"?
Besides that what exactly do you think the caper is?
We're talking about John Negroponte, a conservative hero. If the guy really was acting against national interests and if the guy really wanted to be deceptive why wouldn't he have just given the "national security" explanation the first time around?
If you can't figure out who they are referring to by the use of the word 'their' from the part of the sentence that you clipped off, then I can't help you.
I'm done with this.