============================================================================= ____ _ _ _ / ___|_ __ _ _ _ __ | |_ ___ | \ | | _____ _____ | | | '__| | | | '_ \| __/ _ \ _____| \| |/ _ \ \ /\ / / __| | |___| | | |_| | |_) | || (_) |_____| |\ | __/\ V V /\__ \ \____|_| \__, | .__/ \__\___/ |_| \_|\___| \_/\_/ |___/ |___/|_| SEN. CONRAD BURNS URGES CLINTON TO REASSES ENCRYPTION POLICY AND ANNOUNCES HEARINGS ON THE ISSUE for 6/12/96 REP. RICK WHITE (R-WA) SCHEDULED FOR HOTWIRED CHAT 6/5/96 9-10PM EST SEN. CONRAD BURNS (R-MT) SCHEDULED FOR HOTWIRED CHAT 6/11/96 10-11PM EST Date: June 2, 1996 URL:http://www.crypto.com/ crypto-news@panix.com If you redistribute this, please do so in its entirety, with the banner intact. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents News Text of Sen. Burns' letter to President Clinton How to receive crypto-news ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS Sen. Conrad Burns (R-MT), principal co-sponsor of legislation to ease restrictions on encryption, yesterday sent President Clinton a letter urging the Administration to reassess its encryption policy in light of a recent report by the National Research Council. The findings contained in the NRC study, released at a briefing in Washington DC on Thursday, raise serious questions about the rational for the Administration's current approach to cryptography policy. The study states explicitly, "Current national cryptography policy is not adequate to support the information security requirements of an information society." In his letter to the President, Senator Burns said that the NRC study presents overwhelming evidence that the current approach to encryption policy has failed. Burns also pledged to hold hearings in the Senate Commerce Committee on June 12 and 26. The night before the hearings (June 11 at 10 pm ET), Senator Burns will be live online at HotWired (http://www.hotwired.com/wiredside). Be sure to save the date and stop by to talk with the Senator about his efforts to encourage the widespread availability of strong encryption and get a preview of the hearings on the Pro_CODE bill. Information on Senator Burns' legislation, as well as information on the NRC report, is available at http://www.crypto.com DON'T FORGET! Representative Rick White (R-WA) will be on HotWired Wednesday June 5th at 9pm EST at http://www.hotwired.com/wiredside/ You can tune in and listen to the chat with the RealAudio software (http://www.realaudio.com). You can ask questions of the Representative through a moderator and get real, immediate responses. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- TEXT OF SEN. BURNS' LETTER TO PRESIDENT CLINTON May 30, 1996 The President The White House Washington, D.C. 20500 Dear Mr. President, I urge you to reassess the administration's position on cryptography policy in light of the report released today by the National Research Council, "Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society." The report was put together by the NRC Committee to Study National Cryptography, which included members from across the spectrum of the business, academic, defense and intelligence communities. The fact that such a diverse roster of our brightest minds could achieve consensus after taking two years to pore over the details of encryption policy is remarkable, and their recommendations should be taken most seriously. The acronym of the report's title-CRISIS-is especially apt given the massive economic and national security costs of the current policy, which severely restricts the export of software containing strong encryption. As the report states, "Current national cryptography policy is not adequate to support the information security requirements of an information society. Indeed, current policy discourages the use of cryptography, whether intentional or not, and in so doing impedes the ability of the nation to use cryptographic tools that would help to remediate certain important vulnerabilities." As the Chairman of the NRC Committee to Study National Cryptography, Kenneth Dam, states in the report "the crisis is a policy crisis, rather than a technology crisis, an industry crisis, a law enforcement crisis, or an intelligence-gathering crisis..." The most recent version of the administration's policy, as reflected in the draft white paper of the interagency working group on encryption, unfortunately reveals a continuing commitment to government-imposed mandates rather than private-sector solutions. The proposal, which was quickly dubbed "Clipper III" because of its close alignment with the earlier rejected Clipper schemes, has the support of neither the software industry nor the Net community. Indeed, as the Committee noted, an essential flaw behind the administration's policy is the continuing reliance on the national security and law enforcement communities to drive the policy through administrative diktat rather than open legislative action. As the report states, rather than vainly attempting to reign in the inevitable widespread use of strong encryption, the administration should be actively promoting it. The use of strong encryption has become vital to both ensuring the privacy of individuals and fostering the growth of the Global Information Infrastructure into the 21st century. As for the national security aspects of encryption policy, the report states that cryptography can protect proprietary information and reduce economic espionage. In addition, strong encryption can protect nationally sensitive information systems and networks against unauthorized penetration. Therefore, the use of strong encryption serves to protect national security rather than hinder it. Simply put, "on balance, the advantages of more widespread use of cryptography outweigh the disadvantages." I further call your attention to specific recommendations by the Committee: *National cryptography policy should be developed by the executive and legislative branches on the basis of open public discussion and governed by the rule of law. *No law should bar the manufacture, sale, or use of any form of encryption within the United States. *Export Controls on cryptography should be progressively relaxed. *The U.S. government should promote the security of the telecommunications networks more actively. *The U.S. government should take steps to assist law enforcement and national security to adjust to new technical realities of the information age. *Aggressive government promotion of escrowed encryption is not appropriate... *The debate over national cryptography policy can be carried out in a reasonable manner on an unclassified basis. *National cryptography policy affecting the development and use of commercial cryptography should be more closely aligned with market forces. A core recommendation of the Committee is that the administration foster an open public debate so that a national consensus on cryptography can be developed. I agree wholeheartedly and hope that the public hearings beginning on June 12 in the Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Science, Space and Technology, which I chair, will help foster this process. Many of the NRC's recommendations are reflected in the "Burns Pro-CODE bill," S. 1726, which will be debated on that date, with an additional hearing to be held on June 26. Now that some of the best scientific and technical minds in the country have essentially endorsed the position that business and policy advocates have been taking for years, it's time for the administration to come around as well. In conclusion, I can only agree with the Chairman Dam's statement: We believe that our report makes some reasonable proposals for national cryptography policy. But a proposal for action. What is needed now is a public debate, using and not sidestepping the full processes of government, leading to a judicious resolution of pressing cryptography policy issues and including, on some important points, legislative action. Only in this manner will the policy crisis come to a satisfactory and stable resolution. Sincerely, /s/ Conrad Burns U.S. Senator ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- HOW TO RECEIVE CRYPTO-NEWS To subscribe to crypto-news, sign up from our WWW page (http://www.crypto.com) or send mail to majordomo@panix.com with "subscribe crypto-news" in the body of the message. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- End crypto-news =============================================================================