I wonder if Philbin had a George Tenet moment after he heard Martin was in the hospital. I don't know if people remember but right after the second plane struck the tower Tenet said the thought flashed through his mind: "God, I hope it's not those guys in Florida."
If it didn't similarly cross Philbin's mind that the reason that Martin was in the hospital was that he and Turner's little plan to toughen Martin up had turned into Operation Butt**** Kablooie, then he's a fool. And I don't think he's a fool. I think either consciously or unconsciously he didn't want to deal with the problem, didn't want to confront it. So he didn't ask Martin about what was going on in a way that would elicit the truth. He asked in a way that would elicit a platitude that would allow him to get the hell out of there.
Neither Philbin nor Martin want to attack problems directly and aggressively. That's part of why we're in the situation we're in. A bunch of guys letting problems boil over until it's too late.