Al Qaeda Plot Against Parliament Foiled
British authorities apparently have thwarted a poison gas attack on Parliament which may have been timed to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Guy Fawkes' Gunpowder Plot. Computers seized in England and Pakistan in recent raids reportedly contained information on the terrorists' plan.
The London Times' account says:
The encrypted e-mails are said to have been decoded with the help of an Al-Qaeda “supergrass”. By revealing the terrorists’ code he was also able to help MI5 and GCHQ, the government’s eavesdropping centre at Cheltenham, to crack several more plots.
I've never heard the term "supergrass," but it sounds like an informer or double agent. If so, that's great: al Qaeda has been notoriously hard to infiltrate.
UPDATE: A great many readers have written to confirm that in Britain, "grass" is slang for "informer," so a "supergrass" is a high-level informer or mole. Excellent.
