A close relative of mine retired as a Colonel from the Air Force. He said years ago, he was involved in the cleanup of a military aircraft. It was publicly announced that it was one type of aircraft when it was another.
He couldn’t understand why the misinformation but went along with it, the higher ups said it was for security issues, but it really wouldn’t have mattered. And their reasoning was poor.
But as he progressed thru the years, he noticed the misrepresentations happened more and more. And the reasons for the mistruths became less and less reasoned.
He said that by the time he retired, it was very common in the military to tell untruths for little or no reason at all. It would all be documented and approved but the reality wouldn’t match the PR.
It was almost the preferred way instead of a needed thing to do.
He probably could have gotten a star but just didn’t like that style of operation any more.
Quite alarming.