Senior Clinton administration officials are urging Congress to support a bill that would provide a defense against criminals who now have access to more secure communications thanks to new encryption export regulations released this month.
In a letter to House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas) dated Jan. 7, Attorney General Janet Reno said the Cyberspace Electronic Security Act (CESA) is a "critical component" to the administration's new security and encryption policy.
CESA would be used to balance law enforcement's concerns that new encryption export regulations, which allow U.S. vendors to sell stronger encryption products overseas, will make it harder for agencies, including the Justice and Defense departments, to track and catch criminals and terrorists.
"We believe that passage of CESA is critically important to ensure continued legitimate law enforcement access in the face of greater use of encryption," Reno stated. Deputy secretary of Defense John Hamre and Commerce Secretary William Daley co-signed the letter.
The letter also responded to concerns from Armey and civil rights advocates about a section in the original version of CESA that would have allowed law enforcement agencies to execute search warrants without informing the person whose property they were searching right away. The administration removed that section in its revision of the bill and does not plan to rely on new legislation to gain such rights, according to the letter.
"Although we continue to be concerned that criminals and terrorists will use strong encryption to cloak their communications and other evidence of illicit activities from authorized law enforcement investigations, we will attempt to use general authorities to meet this threat," the letter states.
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Story copyright 2000 FCW Government Technology Group. All rights reserved.
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