Seems like just a bit too much slop to be ‘sloppy’. My guess is that they orders came down, the ‘discovery’ was planned to make a point, and everything happened just like it was supposed to.
I don’t see the point of moving weapons and then pretending it shouldn’t have happened.
If you’re trying to send a message, why not issue a direct order for the move?
What was going on at the time that we’d have wanted to send a message?