Flutter,
You seem to think that atpwannabe is saying that the FAA waits for your own disclosure of a DUI, as if to test you. I believe that he is simply saying that if you get a DUI and you do not have a valid medical, the FAA "waits", in a sense, as there is no reason to act on a pilot that just got a DUI if he has no medical in the first place to revoke. In the case of the OP, he had a pending case and he was being watched, so to speak. If he does apply for a medical, regardless of whether he discloses his DUI, they're likely to check the NDR because he is already on the FAA's radar for the first case.
That's my take on your conversation.