Lefthanddownabit, I suspect AirRabbit was not directing all of his post directly at you, but (hopefully) the broader audience, but either way, please understand (and perhaps you do already) it was Ed Cook of the FAA that initiated the whole effort to produce this standard.
I believe the whole process was kicked off at an RAeS conference in 2005 - I came on-board during mid-2007. The intent of this effort was both the harmonization of international standards and a revamp of the standards to reflect current technology capabilities. Remember both the FAA Part 60 and JAA JAR-STD 1A ammendment 3 are dervied to greater or lesser extent from the RAeS Aeroplane Simulator Evaluation Handbook 3rd Ed, 2005.
I do take exception to the statement "The ICAO document appears to have been constructed without the normal levels of discussion.". That could not be further from the truth at all! All manner of airline reps, simulator manufacturers, aircraft manufacturers, regulatory authorties and subject matter experts were part of the International Working Group. I can probably dig up the list if that is of interest.
Right now Larry McDonald from the FAA NSP is heavily involved in developing the Helicopter equivalent to the ICAO 9625 Rev 3 document, so the FAA and EASA are not sidelined here, but part of the process, in fact central.
Please see:
RAeS ICAO 9625 International Working Group - Index