Consider that it has been in the News lately that the Intel is being manipulated by the White House and that there are people at Centcom complaining about it.
Hypothesis: Adm McRaven has been the SPECOM leader for a while now. Being a 4-star his career is effectively over and so HE can’t be intimidated politically. However, a deputy 3-star looking for that last star?
SOCOM not SPECOM...