I'm not an attorney, Peppery, but I think you've done a good job answering your own question about why they keep details "close to the vest".
I also think there's another reason - cops and the military like to be the only ones who know what they're talking about, and be the only ones in the know. It's a personality type. That's why they have code words for stuff so they are the only ones who can follow their conversations. Makes them the elite.
I'm not trying to be anticop, just an observation that they work hard to use codes rather than english the rest of us can understand. Same as lawyers, actually, come to think of it.
With due respect, it would be helpful if you would quote the content of the person you're addressing. I had to go back to another page to see the context of your remarks. They are concerning the tight-lipped investigation of this case and why law enforcement conducts itself in the manner that it does.
I have to say, your statements are an unfortunate stereotype. People in law enforcement and the military are not one-dimensional clones of one another who all have the same personality type. The idea of being 'elite' is more a projection of others onto them. They like to keep things 'close to the vest' because it's how they protect investigations, evidence, the nation's security, themselves and other people.
I have military and law enforcement in my family and circle of friends, and no one is using 'code', or trying to be clever in conversation so that others can't follow along. They are professionals, and true professionals do their job and go home to their families, and have lives where they speak plain language, because they are people like you and me.
The professional agencies involved in this case can't afford to blab what they found at that crime scene, or expose any element of their case that will result in this person not being captured or successfully prosecuted. While there might be some room for the release of more information than we currently have, this image of elitist games by authorities is just off base.
I'm not a soapbox cheerleader for police or soldiers and I'm willing to be critical of both when it applies, but the professionals trying to find this piece of garbage that led these children to their deaths like lambs to slaughter have a hard enough job, without the public painting them as cartoons or movie characters no one can trust. JMO