I read that story.
Sounds to me like a flimsy way to lie about a military screw up.
If a general told me it was raining, I'd have to go outside and see for myself.
Personally I doubt that any space faring race with a reasonable amount of sanity would visit planet Earth.
Our planet is on the edge of one of the pin wheel arms of our galaxy. We are quite literally in the galactic boon docks, the 'outer rim' as the term is used in Star Wars.
Any alien visitor is liable to be killed on sight. In fact, while researching my book I discovered a story from S.A. in which crashed aliens were EATEN by the natives.
No space faring race would be dumb enough to waste the resources to visit our backward murderous planet, not to mention getting involved in our politics. If I was from another planet, I'd just say "why bother?" The whole idea is ridiculous.
On the other hand, past experience has proven that military leaders in general and GENERALS in particular are quite good at lying and covering up massive expensive mistakes and corruption. Generals after all are men, and men are quite capable of such things. Whether or not space aliens are equally adept at it remains to be seen.
