What he means is, the public has the right to know what we want them to know.

""The American public has an absolute right to know how and what its troops are doing and how taxpayer dollars are being spent,” the Military Times’ Howard Altman said. “Can you tell me when journalists will be allowed to embed with troops going over to Europe? And if not soon, who or what is holding that decision?"
Kirby responded that “the buck stops with” him since he is "responsible for decisions that are made about media access to our operations and to our people." He also said that the department is "working our way through what would be the appropriate level of media access here."

https://www.newsmax.com/politi....cs/reporters-us-troo