Reading about this saga in Ben Buchanan's book "The Hacker and the State" made me realize how every government agency (NIST in this case) seems to be always second fiddle to the "needs" of the NSA/national security apparatus. It seems clear from the book that there was a point in time when they essentially just left it in the NSA's hands to develop, knowing it was probably not secure. Not exactly some huge revelation that the national security apparatus can exert power and leverage over other government groups, or even private companies, but the extent to which it happens was surprising.