the difference is, the motivation for the two kinds of communication are completely different. anonymous govt sources talking to the media want the info to be p

the difference is, the motivation for the two kinds of communication are completely different. anonymous govt sources talking to the media want the info to be public. govt officials telling a limited circle of people involved in core infrastructure generally do not want the info to be public. if you are trying to broadcast info to the public, your message is much more suspect, because the likelihood of an intent to deceive is higher. if you wanted the message to get out, there are far easier ways that telling a small circle of private sector people. generally govt isn't going around telling dams, nuclear power plants and drinking water plants about bogus chinese hacking threats on purpose. they can easily be wrong. it's a lot less likely they are lying about something like this.