He said the channel is reserved and private, but was not encoded. I think they have rules as to the use of those coded channels and it would make sense if they did.
After this crap, I would think that training exercises will probably be added to the ultra-secret radio traffic.<>P>Good grief! I could see if they had put it out over the CB radio, but these channels are restricted to LEO's and Military. It's really technically illegal to be listening, but nobody enforces it and radio shack sells the scanners.
I recall a legal battle many years ago over this issue, but I don't recall how it came out. I suppose it must still be ambiguous law.
In the Army, we used encrypted, frequency-hopping radio in training all the time. There may well be reasons for the Coast Guard not to do that - I certainly don't want to jump to conclusions - but I can't think of what that would be.
It's not so much that I'm afraid of some yahoo listening in and doing what he did today. I'm more afraid of the wrong people listening in in order to gather intelligence on the Coast Guard's tactics and procedures for dealing with potential hostiles.