Military "question and answer" sessions are not, and for the sake of discipline, cannot be as open as you might think. When you wear a uniform, whether voluntary or not, you bear a responsibility of realizing you may not know all the facts.
The military has a chain of command, with those who don't have a "need to know" kept out of the loop. This is to instill trust in one's superiors and in wartime a necessity in event of your capture.
The other reason military services use Public Relations people to answer the press is to protect the naive from revealing information in a public forum to unscrupulous reporters. Its easy to forget by wearing the uniform that you are representing the actual service you are working for and not just being seen as giving a personal opinion. This PRESS abuse aggravates the authority and leadership on whom many of these men's lives depend.
As for your comment that maybe these Q & A sessions shouldnt occur, I would agree only in the sense that the Secretary shouldnt allow unscreened questions when members of the Press are present.
Sounds like we agree. I would only add that before the media broadcasts such a Q&A session they should announce all questions have been screened for controversy and security content.
I think the first rule of leadership is to take care of your troops. If one soldier's life is saved by the attention this problem has received as a result of the question, then all the embarassment of the administration and the deviation from proper etiquette is worth it, in my view.
I was never good at the proper etiquette part of the job, it is probably a good thing I got out early. I could not have serverd under Clinton, anyway.