Interesting. I suppose you don't get to her position by saying things you don't need to; once you say them you can't un-say them. Been married enough to know that
John B Alexander referred to UFOs as a tar baby, a third rail you don't want to touch and that stigma persists. I'd think partly out of an abundance of caution in an era when every word you utter is instantly transmitted everywhere but a lot is the same old mockery that's like a nasty fart that just won't clear out of the room.
Really cool - but also a reminder that at one time a person in that position would have said about the same thing in regard to things that have since been declassified. Also that what she might have in mind as the audience for her words is probably very different than what we might consider. No doubt every public statement she makes is noted and analyzed.
Then again, at one time it wouldn't have been a woman in that position at all and the public discourse on this very different, and more brief. I'll take that as progress.