Again, not security theater. Signs of general dysfunction yes. Embarrassing. Fun to tease about for sure.
Aside: the more times I re-read the article the more annoyed I am with the self-righteous tone. It feels like the author is mimicking the style of legendary Usenet posts, but the story just isn’t that interesting and the writing not that witty, it falls flat.
The writing is clearly AI-generated or at least AI-assisted, so I think it's safe to assume it's also a work of fiction.
If it isn't outright fake it's at least embellished. It even has the "and then everyone clapped" line!