Declaration of interests:
1) Yes, I regard Badger as a friend
2) I had one of my caches archived recently and it appeared at that point that I received no notice. It later transpired that the reviewer had, in good faith, placed a note on the cache and for some reason the notification didn't reach my inbox. I have had no reports from anyone else that email has not reached me. Groundspeak email is flaky. Fact.
3) I'm not sure that the exclusion zone is a bad idea. I have a cache about 100m outside it and provided I am contacted, if it's felt to be a security threat I will archive it or move it further away.