that the guardian's password is leaked. "And that's really what Assange was concerned with; that someone would get a physical copy of Leigh's data and the passphrase." I'd agree, that is what Assange was worried about. And in doing so he disregarded the far more likely scenario I mentioned above. Once again, the single password system makes this no less likely. "Furthermore, if Assange did give Leigh a copy with a custom passphrase, and Leigh published that passphrase in his book, he would instantly be a target for anyone who wants access to the cables, "enemy" or "ally" alike. The fact that the data was already publicly available could have saved his life ..." I don't think you seriously believe that Assange used a single password out of fear for the life of the Leigh, but, he would equally be a target under the other situation, since if he could release his copy of cables under threat of death, he could even more easily release the passphrase when threatened. I don't think you seriously believe that Assange should have predicted Leigh would be so stupid as to write down and publish the passphrase and salt in his book. Or if you DO think that, then you're just as stupid as Leigh was. Seriously. Assange decided to trust Leigh with the data. That meant trusting him to not reveal the method of decrypting the data. Whether that is simply a passphrase or a private key + passphrase combination is irrelevant. Assange