Who is not acknowledging its actual intent? It doesn’t bother me that conspiracy theories exist. It seems to matter to you.

In a military exercise, how much does it matter that civilians who don’t understand the exercise refuse to acknowledge its actual intent?

I’m not accusing them of anything. I said IMAGINE the same scenario in California/Pacific N.W. during the Bush era and what the reaction might be if the troops’ mission was to blend in undetected with civilians. If you read the linked LA Times article, you would see the reaction in California was protest and conspiracy theories for an exercise on a much smaller scale. Please do not put words in my mouth and please stop parsing “blending in undetected” and “infiltrating.” Perhaps as someone with military experience, there is a huge difference in terms; for me, as a civilian, there is not. And I understand from the town hall spokespeople that this is role playing anyway.

Yes, the point of the training is to operate without detection in the civilian population. I’ve participated in that kind of training myself. There is no “infiltration” of the civilian population, and “close enough for me” is no justification for the accusation that our own troops are trying to “infiltrate” their own country.