I don't work in civilian software development, but I do work in a setting with clearly defined, regular meetings/briefings. In our org, information frequently DOESN'T get to the relevant parties organically. There are representatives from every functional section; bringing every last team member in would be pointless and unsupportable due to space constraints anyway. The briefing is directed to the Commanding General (or whoever is receiving the brief in his stead, like a VP-equivalent in corporate terms). Our briefs are an opportunity to give the senior decision-maker 1) a snapshot of exactly what is going on right now 2) demonstrates to the decision-maker that the staff understands his/her mental image of the organization's direction/goals 3) forum for directed tasks/information requests from the senior leader to either Subject Matter Experts or the people who know them.