Comes back to that old chestnut, "Need to know". People who don't need to know get so pissed off when they are excluded from briefings etc. including this ex Sea Lord, now a Labour politician, who has ventured out on a sh*t stirring exercise against his opposition. A "we don't discuss etc" should have been enough.
Weapon fired, weapon failed, problem identified, problem solved, NFA. It is a weapon of war and we don't provide our potential enemy with the minutes of a political discussion, we are back to Need to Know.