The NY Times followup of the WSJ's Richard Reid report noted that the computer on which Reid's travel account was found contained some 1500 files, and that other stories were likely to come from those files. Recall that some computer files had been decrypted and some not yet.
Though not reported, I assume that the WSJ was being given decryptions selectively if the decrypt was being done by the USG or USG contractors. And like most of relying on cryptographers, reporters and translators having to trust the information. (The WSJ never disclosed who was doing the decrypts.) What else was being found in the decrypts other than what the Journal was given and what was reported of that in its one story is unknown. However, there's a good chance that Pearl was following up on some of that privileged information in his Reid investigation, and some of that may have dealt with Pakistan's intelligence services. Or the PK intel boyos suspected that. And whoever once owned the computer, or those who worried about what was in its files, could badly have wanted to know what was being learned from decrypts. Or if nothing else would like to know if the WSJ story was a rabbit set out to snare wolves. A few days after the WSJ Reid story was published about the encrypted files I wrote one of the reporters to inquire about the type of encryption used and who was doing the decrypts. He answered quickly that he was in transit but would be pleased to answer questions once stationary. Nothing has been heard from him since then, and Pearl's kidnapping a few days later could have killed any prospect of getting answers, what with WSJ HQ (and who knows who else) putting a lock on information. Finally, the two reporters of the January 16 Reid story, Alan Cullison and Andrew Higgins, seem to have disappeared, by whom who knows. And whither the balance of those 1500 files? And were they real or phony?
