INFO: Sen. Burns urges White House to follow NRC recommendations (6/2/96)
Voters Telecommunications Watch
shabbir at vtw.org
Sun Jun 2 14:00:24 PDT 1996
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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
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News
Text of Sen. Burns' letter to President Clinton
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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.
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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
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