[AnimalMuppet]

The GP said two things: "leaked" and "classified". For that reason, I strongly suspect that "unable to be discussed publicly due to blowing a source" is the reason for anything... unless you think it was "leaked" as a deliberate misdirection.

[firefax]

As I said in my previous statement, the journalist said that they made their assessment using only things like satellite data and that folks like NSA/CIA might have a different take but it would not be discussed in public due to the nature of HUMINT.

So imagine someone leaks a report that doesn't use all available sources to bolster their side of a story or because they lack the theory of mind to understand it's not the bombshell they think it is.

I don't know how to write this out more simply for you.