I suspect that they would have limited knowledge of the operation as much as possible.

Buoy man wouldn’t have needed to know. Safer for him not to know, in fact.

Any type of clandestine operation that will negatively affect civillians is going to operate like that. As few people as as possible are in the loop.

For further evidence, Monkey Werx analyzed the flight of the P-8 in his podcast:

SITREP 10.3.22 - The HAAWC Missile System - If it looks like a duck! (YT 36:36)

Don't be thrown off by the "HAAWC Missile" reference. He makes clear that element is only speculation