No one really knows what the government knows. Especially “the government.” I’ve seen no evidence of an evil cabal that Knows All. My own suspicion is that it doesn’t know all that much, and much of what people suspect the government knows is a toxic blend of disinformation, popular myth and wishful thinking..

If there is a real bombshell to disclose (and I think there may be), it probably has little to do with preventing embarrassment and much more to do with the byzantine security bureaucracy and the loss of information over time.