One flaw I see in Ritter's logic. The written authorization was drafted and the operation began before Ryan was even officially appointed. That simple timeline places Ryan outside of it, plus when he went before congress to request the budget increase, that's not something that goes into effect overnight, stuff like that takes months so the operation was already funded and he had no part to play in that. Sure it's not enough to completely exonerate him but that reasonable doubt would be enough to get him in a bargaining position. Especially if he's willing to roll on all of them, which he does in the end.