These guys are so stupid it’s frightening
That's the truly frightening takeaway from this affair. These pinheads were in charge, and that was the best plan they could think of. Mitigating factors may have been the need to conceal from underlings - but that shows reliance on staff to come up with and implement decent plans.
Unfortunately, despite the impression we are given by Hollywood and the news media... government agencies at all levels are infested with idiots. I witnessed it first hand for decades in my former career. Unfortunately, basically all of our civil service organizations promote in a way that is not actually merit based. Varying types of mediocre individuals tend to rise to the top.
The best of them are aware that they are less intelligent than their underlings and can sometimes still run a decent organization. But even these people tend to be paranoid and suspicious of anyone who they sense is on to them. Major problems often arise when you have a mediocre individual who is some sort of ideologue who does not realize that they are an idiot. They can cause all sorts of issues.
As an example... the fire department I worked for had contracts to provide fire protection and emergency medical services for smaller jurisdictions outside of our city. A police officer from the smaller jurisdiction reported an apartment fire to our communications center. Just before my crew and I arrived at the location, the police officer reported back that he had extinguished the fire with extinguishers from the complex.
Because this was in an outlying area our communications center canceled everyone but us to avoid coverage issues from sending a large number of units out of the city. When we arrived my crew and I performed cleanup and searched for any remaining problems. I congratulated the officer for his actions which stopped what could have easily become a major conflagration.
I got a strange call on the radio from the Battalion Chief who was filling in that day. He told me not to let the police officer leave the scene before he arrived. Under normal circumstances one would assume that the chief wanted to congratulate the officer as I had done. Unfortunately, I knew from previous experience that this particular chief was a blithering idiot who was an affirmative action hire and promotion. He had actually been fired previously when he was still a lieutenant for purchasing crack cocaine on duty while his crew waited in the fire engine. He was then rehired a year or so later and quickly promoted through the ranks to battalion chief.
I suggested to the police officer that he should get the chief of his department to the scene as quickly as possible. When our battalion chief arrived he started yelling at the police officer and accusing him of canceling our units, which actually had been done by our own communications department. In the middle of this confrontation the police chief from the smaller jurisdiction showed up and the two chiefs got in a heated argument. Then a second black battalion chief who was working temporarily that day also showed up and the two “brothers” both started berating the police chief.
After my chiefs left the police chief wanted to know if his officer, or he or anyone else had done anything wrong. I assured him that on the contrary his officer deserved an award for his quick thinking and action and that he deserved an award for dealing courteously with two difficult overpaid individuals who had no clue about much of anything that had happened that day.
Unfortunately, since I was a leader on our hazmat team I also had the "pleasure" of working with people from the state, federal government, and the military. Strangely enough the military personnel I worked with were all incredibly competent and professional. The federal and state officials were a mixed bag with some of them very good and some completely useless. The leadership of the federal and state organizations often left you scratching your head.