Spot on, both counts IMHO. I think the second comment also applies to the US. Owning up to knowing about it raises too many politically unanswerable questions of the "if you knew why didn't you do something about it" type. In the UK see the scandalous lack of NG storage largely caused by a planning system that ministers would not override in the clear national interest. This is where you really get the circle - if the national interest is clear enough to do something about it then you know and if you knew... - refer to earlier comment.
this sort of analysis should be outside of political control and be transparent..

they did it for the bank of england...