I don't know why you'd call it a conspiracy. It is the nature of organizations to expand, USS is taking a logical path toward growth. They will experience less oppostion if they do it quitely. They mention something about their congressional monopoly "giving them a broader mandate to serve the public directly" or some such verbiage.

Have a nice day.

From the horse's mouth: http://about.ussailing.org/History.htm

"According to the original constitution, NAYRU's authority stemmed from consent of its members and member associations over which it exercised jurisdiction in an advisory capacity. Today, its authority comes instead from an act of Congress (the Ted Stevens Olympic and Amateur Sports Act of 1978) and a much broader charter to serve America's sailors directly"

The only real change here is they no longer need your consent to serve you.