Another thing that makes me wonder if he was a mole for someone in the press- or perhaps in the Senate intel committee- is that he was continually annoying Bolton by trying to insert himself into meetings where he wasn't wanted or needed. The Cuban spy Elena Belen Montes also had similar intrusive habits. She was destined to be planted on Tenet's staff until investigators decided to bring her in after 9/11. She was also noted for clotting up the flow of info to her superiors- she supressed any intel on Cuba that might lead to people assuming it was a greater threat, for example in biochem warfare reasearch.
Thielman reminds me of Papadopolouos