We offer a paper distributed at the recent NYC crypto forum, "Private Groups and Public Policy: Cryptography and the National Research Council," by Kenneth Dam, professor of law at the University of Chicago, a panelist at the forum, and chair of the NRC panel which produced the report "Cryptography's Role in Securing the Information Society," May, 1996. http://jya.com/damrole.htm (63K) Professor Dam recounts the impact of the NRC report on the Administration's encryption policy as an example of how private groups help shape public policy.