"Personal attack" is a pretty big stretch here. The NSA is generally dismissive of academic cryptographers, and was dismissive here.

Okay that's what the article says but the tweets specifically say that they attacked the credibility of some very well respected security experts

If they're talking about what I think they're talking about, they're referring to a technical argument in which pretty much everyone was dismissive. It was still more civil than a typical HN thread, which is in turn more civil than a typical Reddit thread, which in turn is... my point being: outrageous personal attack is a bit of a stretch.

I take it you're referencing a discussion that isn't public?