I agree. As a political matter, which is often what really counts, the NRC report is almost unambiguously positive. It pays at least lip service to everything that civil libertarians and coders who'd like to be able to export crypto have been saying for years, thereby legitimizing them. The fact that the technical details -- 56-bit encryption, suggestions that surveilance within the US might be a good idea -- betray the supposed conclusions of the report is largely irrelevant. The general public/ politicians aren't going to understand the technical details. They're going to see the headline, "NRC Report Backs Crypto Exports and *Real* Security." Work the headline, claim that they agree with you 100% (even though you know that they don't), and continue to say what you believe. It's called politics. -rich