You are a PR guy. A respected and big news agency puts out an article saying your company is involved in some secret stuff - stuff that you wouldn't know about.
Do you release a press release denying everything without asking the guys who are supposed to know about it? Would those guys say to you it's all fabricated and urge you to deny it or will they evade answering it (or even more likely they'll go up the chain)?
Right, PR folks may not understand how all the stuff works in their company, but they sure as shit know which topics require senior approvals. That is basic self-preservation for them.
Do you release a press release denying everything without asking the guys who are supposed to know about it? Would those guys say to you it's all fabricated and urge you to deny it or will they evade answering it (or even more likely they'll go up the chain)?
This is a CEO level incident.