I think he went to Black Hat because unlike Defcon, Black Hat is run by a large multinational media company with a PR department trained and motivated to secure keynote speakers who will attract the most press attention to the conference.
Q: "[..]Does the NSA really keep a file on anyone? [...]"
A: "[..] Frist, no, we don't [...]"
Absolutely astonishing!
listen/watch here: http://youtu.be/tz0ejKersnM?t=33m2s