It is the proof that the business of the dirty war and agent running went to the very top of the paramilitary organisations.

I have known about that London meeting for a considerable period of time - known who was there and what it was about.

So why reveal it now?

Maybe because one of the biggest pieces in that jigsaw of our past is that relationship between Special Branch, the Army, MI5 and the agents or informers.

It could be the gaping hole in the Eames-Bradley report - not because they will choose or want to ignore it, but because this particular jigsaw piece is hidden in the swamp of National Security.

This is the stuff that is buried because we are told it is not in the public interest.

And yet understanding that relationship - the extent of it, what it involved, who it involved and who knew what and when, is crucial to the truth of the past.

The agent at the London meeting has been at the decision-making heart of the UDA for years - in the rooms were orders were given, part of that war process of life and death. I know who he is - was told his name, and told that in all the fallout after Castlereagh and Stormontgate that he wanted to stand down.

It was a time of turmoil.

Agent codenames had been stolen from Castlereagh along with the names of their handlers and their telephone numbers.

That information was now in the hands of the IRA.

Then came Stormontgate - and then the in-fighting involving MI5 and the police over intelligence leaks to the media.

The most senior Special Branch officer in Belfast left his post in controversial circumstances.

In all that was going on, you could understand the nervousness of agents, and understand why the brigadier would want to walk away.

I am told he was persuaded to stay.

His is but one story of that dirty war - the tip of the intelligence iceberg.

Someone involved in that exploration of the past recently spoke of seeing 10 filing cabinets relating to republican informers.

It suggests a lot of files, a lot of names, a lot of secrets and a lot of reasons why the jigsaw picture will never be completed.

And what was the huge concern inside the intelligence world when the Police Ombudsman's office was investigating the loyalist Mark Haddock and his agent role?

The concern was the trail would lead to the very top of the UVF organisation - up into those highest places of leadership - into another room and another place where for years life and death was decided.

So, when Alex Attwood talks about "a lot more agents involved in more activities and at a much higher leadership level" and that "many people died because of that", I believe he is right.

Will the whole truth emerge?

Not all of it, because it is too ugly, and potentially destabilising.

So, there will be a story with missing pictures and missing words.

That is what we can expect.