But attorney Pamela Lafreniere was anything but happy Tuesday, following a carefully staged general apology by U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and NOAA administrator Jane Lubchenco for misdeeds and actions that they emphasized had been carried out by the career bureaucratic cadre they inherited — and whose members would not be punished or sanctioned in any way.

Only the last sentence of the paragraph by Swartwood remained unredacted. And in it, the special master wrote: "I find this email to be credible evidence that money was NOAA's motivating objective in this case."

The redaction, to Lafreniere, was a literal coverup with black ink to protect the identities of corrupt government agents.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.