Boy, you ain't never been in the newspaper biz, have you? The favorite tactic of a number of reporters I've had the "pleasure" to meet is to stake out one of the ubiquitous ("all over the place" for you in South Florida) drinking establishments located outside any military base and eavesdrop on conversations. If the reporter hears anything interesting, he simply buys a round for the group doing the talking, and pretty soon he's got a good lead on a story. It's even easier if the reporter is a young, attractive female. This technique was used fairly effectively right after the Cole bombing when reporters wanted to get the "how do you feel about being a target" angle from deckplate sailors without the interference of public affairs officers.
The idea of not releasing the last names of pilots is really only effective in keeping their identities secret from anti-war protestors and the media. Any intelligence service worth its pay will have perused unit internet sites, hit units up for gedunk items (welcome-aboard pamphlets for a unit often list the CO, XO and CMC of a unit), and clipped items from base or unit publications and will have fairly complete unit rosters for any give squadron or surface ship. For the Taliban to access this information may simply consist of them calling in a few chips with the Iraqis or Syrians.
I swear, this forum is slowly degenerating into a group of nervous nellies seeing evil everywhere and proto-nazis willing to institute a fascist police state to "get them there rag heads."
BTW, I've been in the Navy public affairs community now for nearly 14 years, with more than four years at sea. I've been through this drill before with Desert Shield.