IT'S NOT SURPRISING that in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks last Friday, US government officials would renew their assault on encryption and revive their efforts to force companies to install backdoors in secure products and encryption software.

Just last month, the government seemed to concede thatforced decryption wasn't the way to go for now, primarily because the public wasn't convinced yet that encryption is a problem. But US officials had also noted that something could happen to suddenly sway the public in their favor.

Robert S. Litt, general counsel in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, predicted as much in an email sent to colleagues three months ago. In that missive obtained by theWashington Post, Litt argued that although "the legislative environment [for passing a law that forces decryption and backdoors] is very hostile today, it could turn in the event of a terrorist attack or criminal event where strong encryption can be shown to have hindered law enforcement."

In the story about that email, another US official explained to thePost that the government had not yet succeeded in persuading the public that encryption is a problem because "[w]e do not have the perfect example where you have the dead child or a terrorist act to point to, and that's what people seem to claim you have to have."