My first thought was that they hired incompetent and lazy people of their own ilk to do the job. Lack of ethics and underperformance are rewarded on all levels by this administration. You’re probably right on about diverting attention, though.
I wouldn’t be surprised, incompetence is just about everywhere. The whole long drawn-out failed homeland security debacle, especially with that Janet Napolitano twit, was well, a good opening example of exactly how bad National Security is slouching. I don’t know for certain, by I feel pretty doubtful that they kept much standards for background checks in admitting Edward Snowden to the job, much less plenty of the other leakers. But then again, in the case of Snowden, a sincere liberal/libertarian comes around to make Obama look a little incompetent.