I don’t think the risk/reward works out here. Lots of people had knowledge of the search; if any one of them goes to the press, then a minor public embarrassmen

I don’t think the risk/reward works out here. Lots of people had knowledge of the search; if any one of them goes to the press, then a minor public embarrassment becomes a career-ender, at best. Public agencies leak too much for this sort of thing. Not to mention that they could have just not announced the loss if they wanted to hide it.