[PghBaldy]

They could have said it was an exercise two hours ago. It happened about 10am

[Cold Heat]

The Coast Guard main office would not have known about a exercise called by the local commander on the scene. These are just little proficiency exercises and do not involve anyone except the group of boats. There were four of them.

I really don't understand why you or anyone would be blaming the LEO's or the Guard for doing what they are paid to do.

The culprit here is the jerk who bought a scanner, tuned into a protected radio channel and misinterpreted what he heard, then passed that on to the media who aired it inappropriately.

[Cboldt]

-- They could have said it was an exercise two hours ago. --

I wouldn't be surprised if CG did apprise CNN of that, long ago. Good news travels slowly.