I agree that the Navy should be able to track the guy down with just this information and so he'd be better off coming out of the closet. But if by that you suggest that the story is questionable. Consider that the actions of two people are involved, Irvine and a source. The actions of Irvine in reporting what someone told him are not the same as the actions or fears of the person he spoke to. The source did not think "I'll report my story but keep my identity secret." If he did, that would be strange... but that is not the case here. The source also became spooked after their first discourse.
It will be interesting to see what if anything develops from this.