[Drew68]

This ‘official” who gave out this information needs to be arrested and put in the brig. It has not been released for a reason. At the very least, our enemies know we are short two aircraft in a war zone.

Before the pilots even hit the water the entire carrier battle group set "River City One" status and all outgoing communication from the ship was secured. All the phone lines, email, internet, etc. are immediately shut down. The procedure takes about a minute.

You can guarantee this release was authorized.

[ChinaThreat]

What would the purpose be of releasing the information “anonymously” then?