It was very busy that night. Over 1000 sorties in about 8 hours. Day one of DS. There were F117's and other black ops that were sent in early that the F18's would not have had details of and may not have even had in their IFF catalog. One of the main reasons for ROE is to avoid blue on blue thus the need to get clearance from another source with the bigger picture.
Thanks. Good explanation. Still...