Grasshopper,
They are not just in CYA mode, they are in PYJ mode (Protect your job). If they trust the wrong peons, I mean believers or if they lose people due to telling them the truth, they (leadership) are out. I know that not all LC's know everything. TWI has simply lied about how 'big that fish was' too many times. IMO they can never recover from this, so they turn it into a spiritual maturity issue, etc.