So they committed a crime and then created a classified compartment to cover it up after the fact?

So exactly what classification compartment covers shooting down a civilian airliner? Why didn't they use that compartment when we shot down the Iran Air flight?

Who is "they" and how do you keep a crew of 300+ quiet? Those sailors are regular guys and girls...the vast majority would do the right thing. Also, anybody who's spent any time in the military knows there are always a few disgruntled junior folks who are in for one term, hate it, can't wait to get out, and would love nothing better than to stick it to their bosses and the system.

The idea of a friendly shootdown is tin-foil hat lunacy. The idea of a hostile shootdown is in improbable in the extreme due to the limitations of man-portable systems and the fact that the bad guys have no truck-launched or fixed SAM systems located in CONUS Also they never found in evidence of damage from an external HE blast.