Re: Do we really need to tell the enemy what our plans are?
Yes, yes you do, if you want to have the moral high-ground and avoid death.
Troll-feeding aside its important to know the reasons why these things should be public.
Part of the reason for the first world war was a network of secret treaties where nobody knew what the consequences of their actions would be. Do you think Saddam would have invaded Kuwait if he knew what the US reaction was going to be? The cynical might say the US was banking on that.
These are not state secrets, these are not even secrets against foreign enemies. These are actions against US nationals, used against civilian protests against state force which resulted in someone dying.
What happens if someone like Snowden leaks the SOP? Does it negate the SOP? Will the have to ditch it? How does anyone follow it if they don't know what it is?
SOPs are there to ensure that everyone does the right thing. The procedures are thought-out and put in place when everyone has a cool head, rather than making decisions in a panic. Its actually there to stop things like the BART incident. It helps prevent wrong behaviour because everyone on the ground knows what they should do and that they will be personally held responsible if they deviate from policy. If the policy is secret, there is no policy, there is just "what we wanted to do at the time."
What happens when the journalists show up with satellite links and free wifi? What happens when houses around the area decide to have open wifi? Can they shut down all the cable & telco fixed lines too? If information warfare comes to the streets, how long do you think it will be before people start bringing police radio jammers to demonstrations?