The same journalist wrote a piece last summer titled “The seeds of this political disaster were sown decades ago”. I can’t read it due to the paywall, but judging from the title, they may not have been completely complacent.

…after the predator instantly becomes enamored with the adorable baby quokka, and calls her own kids over to play.

He’s not just a journalist, he’s the editor-in-chief of the Atlantic. He’d be risking the whole publication, not just himself.

Maybe he was afraid that if he kept lurking they’d eventually charge him with espionage.