We all sympathize with what these defectors have gone through. The Iraqi ones and Hwang and other Nork ones too - loosing their families, leaving their countries, etc. But, as you point out, they’ve all been out of the loop for several years. Plus they are generally bitter towards their former employers and prone to paint the worst possible picture. They are also trying to please their new hosts/patrons and to make themselves useful and important.

I’m happy that Hwang is hammering home the message that cutting deals a la Jimmy Carter is worse than useless. But the memory of articles about and by Iraqi nuclear scientist Hamza talking about Saddam’s plans and advanced capabilities (he left in 1996 so he was waaay out of the loop).