Why is the FBI against encryption? Why did the former NSA and CIA chiefs come in favor of encryption? Their statements are hard to decipher on the subject, but not hard to figure out. It is usually easier to make everything but the cipher weak. Protocols and programs commonly used are either not done properly or non standardized, and best practices have been slow in coming. Furthermore, the FBI has not been clear on this, but apparently they want data in motion to be decrypted and encrypted by a central point, and for data at rest to not be encrypted. (I seriously doubt Marcy Wheeler's claims of Comey's charisma if he has not even been able to say in one sentence about what the FBI wants, unless she's flirting with him) For groups to organize they need to communicate. Criminals use off the shelf encryption tools, and their devices are not continuously connected, and even less likely to be able to run root code on each other's devices (although social engineering does work). What the NSA and the CIA does is harder to guess, but it becomes somewhat obvious that no nation-state has publicly explained how to design a proper protocol (AFAIK). Furthermore, you do hear in the news about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_cyberattack_on_United_States . Essentially, common criminals have a small attack surface. Nationstates have a larger attack surface, so encryption is less significant.