Then the US government is also at fault for knowingly putting their employees in dangerous positions without their knowledge.
That's potentially worse, as it basically would mean the US is using the same techniques on god knows who else. The entire thing could have been friendly fire in that case.
It’s quite routine for journalists to ask questions, receive no answer or receive a refusal to answer, and note that the exchange occurred.
On this topic, one finds big long articles with fun, colorful cartoons but not a single use of the word “detect”.