I done global scale security planning and was an operational commander for many, many years…they are very different things.
If the planners are taking a step back, the operations commanders are taking a step forward. Watch the planners. They will remain very close by for the advice and consent of the operational command structure. They need the vantage point that a degree of separation allows.
Commanders have a lot on their minds and shoulders, but don't need to know where every nut and bolt are placed. Planners have a lot of details on their minds, valuable details, but ones that can burden broader decision making on the fly.
My guess is, the Q operation has gone operational in the larger sense. Up until now, you've had battlespace preparations and cloak and dagger work. That phase has ended and the cavalry is being called forward and the arrows are in flight or are sitting on drawn bowstrings.
There was a reason the CinC was home alone at the CP… if I was a bad guy, I wouldn't want to think about facing a battle led by Julius Caesar, or Donald J. C. Trump.