New Docs Reveal NSA Role in Telephony Proposal

From the CPSR Alert 2.06 (Dec. 1, 1993)

New Docs Reveal NSA Involvement in Digital Telephony Proposal A series of memoranda received by CPSR from the Department of Commerce last week indicate that the National Security Agency was actively involved in the 1992 FBI Digital Telephony Proposal. Two weeks ago, documents received by CPSR indicated that the FBI proposal, code named "Operation Root Canal," was pushed forward even after reports from the field found no cases where electronic surveillance was hampered by new technologies. The documents also revealed that the Digital Signature Standard was viewed by the FBI as "[t]he first step in our plan to deal with the encryption issue." The earliest memo is dated July 5, 1991, just a few weeks after the Senate withdrew a Sense of Congress provision from S-266, the Omnibus Crime Bill of 1991, that encouraged service and equipment providers to ensure that their equipment would "permit the government to obtain the plain text contents of voice, data and other communications...." The documents consist of a series of fax transmittal sheets and memos from the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Commerce to the National Security Agency. Many attachments and drafts, including more detailed descriptions of the NSA's proposals, were withheld or released with substantial deletions. Also included in the documents is a previously released public statement by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration entitled "Technological Competitiveness and Policy Concerns." The document was requested by Rep. Jack Brooks and states that the proposal could obstruct or distort telecommunications technology development by limiting fiber optic transmission, ISDN, digital cellular services and other technologies until they are modified, ... could impair the security of business communications ... that could facilitate not only lawful government interception, but unlawful interception by others, [and] could impose industries ability to offer new services and technologies. CPSR is planning to appeal the Commerce Department's decision to withhold many of the documents. To subscribe to the Alert, send the message: "subscribe cpsr <your name>" (without quotes or brackets) to listserv@gwuvm.gwu.edu. Back issues of the Alert are available at the CPSR Internet Library FTP/WAIS/Gopher cpsr.org /cpsr/alert Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility is a national, non-partisan, public-interest organization dedicated to understanding and directing the impact of computers on society. Founded in 1981, CPSR has 2000 members from all over the world and 22 chapters across the country. Our National Advisory Board includes a Nobel laureate and three winners of the Turing Award, the highest honor in computer science. Membership is open to everyone. For more information, please contact: cpsr@cpsr.org or visit the CPSR discussion conferences on The Well (well.sf.ca.us) or Mindvox (phantom.com).