Bureaucracy and Secrecy

Bureaucracies abhor negative publicity. Even in a "free society", such as supposedly exists in the US of A, bureaucracies can avoid the spread of bad news about themselves, as happened in this sad event. The taxpayers can't know the financial terms of a settlement for which they are paying. There doesn't seem to be any indication that anyone in particular is being held responsible for the institutional lapse in this case. Everyone is still employed.