[Ditto]

What is the motivation for the NCIS doing a Nifong on these guys?

Is it Murtha?

[RedRover]

The motive could be as simple as ambitious men realizing this was the case of a lifetime. And trying so hard they blew it.

Most of what the NCIS investigates is penny-ante crap on bases. They blew their first high-profile case out of Iraq (the Lt. Pantano case). There may have been political pressure, but the simplest explanation is that the NCIS was in over their heads and just couldn't handle the investigation. So they cut corners and here we are.