I'm a lawyer with just a tiny bit of experience with whistleblower issues. The part of the story where a whistleblower decides not to go public after consulting

I'm a lawyer with just a tiny bit of experience with whistleblower issues. The part of the story where a whistleblower decides not to go public after consulting with their lawyer strikes me as totally plausible. You could think of being a whistleblower as kind of the career equivalent of firing a gun at someone who you're pretty sure is an armed intruder in your home. Yes, if you have the facts right you're probably entitled to do it and (if it will protect other people) it might well be the right thing to do. No, that doesn't mean your life won't get complicated for a while afterward -- especially if the facts aren't what you thought they were, or you miss. I think whistleblowers are incredibly important to society, and there are often good laws to protect them. But they're doing something brave. By far the easiest and safest path is to just look the other way. Or leak it to the media ... (Note I'm not saying this particular story is accurate of course.)