Chug,
You are correct, it was tongue in cheek; however, as an ex Wg Cdr Spry, I always sought for open reporting of FS issues. It was an uphill battle, particularly against many sensitive engineers and VSOs. We nearly got there, but the hierarchy in the 80s brought open reporting down by trying to find out who the 'open' were. Things became even more difficult in the 90s.
I could go on, but..