This is partly an Alabama power play. Cramer, a Democrat from North Alabama, is being taken under the wing of Senator Shelby, an all-Alabama-type of Republican on the Senate Armed Services (or some such) committee. Shelby and Cramer just completed a top-secret (I'm not making this up) mission to personally spy on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and several other Central-Asian/Middle-Eastern nations (officially: to gauge public sentiment in those countries).
Shelby knows Cramer personally, and trust is a very important part of top-secret work (i.e., that which House and Senate Intelligence committes must deal with).
That Hastings is out should speak volumes, but your guess is as good as mine about what those volumes will say.
That being said, I've always felt that McCarthy was right all along...