I think what the FAA wasn't saying may have been above the sensitivity level of a public hearing. The thing is, people will know when an aircraft is around (audio/visual). They'll also know when it's not transmitting (ADS-B receivers are dirt cheap). So, if the FAA says something like "when members of xx department are flying they won't be transmitting", a bad actor could use that to do bad actor things. I understand their point.