Its no surprise I'm critical of NASA. Hint: Its because they are incompetent. You don't have to be a pin in a worldwide conspiracy to be ridiculed.
Yes, NASA has some high profile failures (including one just the other day), but if you look at their overall record, I don't believe that "incompetent" is an appropriated word. I think that it's easy to forget just how mind bogglingly complex even a "routine" space mission can be.
Perhaps they are just funny mistakes when its a piece of wood thats supposed to be a rock or a NASA scientist having a breakdown and driving cross country in diapers.
However when they can't keep track of a budget they are legally required to do and are spending American's money for their own ends, or even more gravely fail causing loss of life its time to be a bit more stern when considering their failings. 5% of those launched into space have died doing so overall (including foreign space launches.) Knowing these risks to human life, their failures are due to incompetence and I think it is nice to be as forgiving as that. Even Feynman noted their wanton disregard for human life and tax payer money through the use of dangerous launch schedules. Both the Challenger and the Columbia both gave plenty of warning of failure and this was not to be noticed by NASA due to their own faults and lack of basic communication; if this was done properly or with even a bit of caution it would have saved the lives of those aboard.
Its a shining example of RE science pushing to meet monetary and personal goals leading to catastrophic results.
However, you are correct in your assessment that given their track record they are doing well for the massive guess and checks they have had to do in the past as well as the loss of great American men and women to do so.