A comment in a blog offers some potential context - namely that the wider crypto field had rediscovered differential cryptanalysis within the last few years. My understanding is that the public discovery of a previously NSA held technique is the type of stuff that the NSA writer was likely fixating on. Likely, the NSA writer attended the conference to get an idea of if the NSA would be losing another trump card.

It's also possible that the NSA writer may have already heard of all these theoretical debates before.