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Encyrption - "CIA's Tenet Says al-Qa'ida Still a Serious Threat"

http://cryptome.org/cia-fbi-threats.htm


US Department of State International Information Programs

Washington File _________________________________

06 February 2002

CIA's Tenet Says al-Qa'ida Still a Serious Threat

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Encryption

One of the most important of these steps involves the FBI's encryption initiative. Communication is central to any collaborative effort--including criminal conspiracies. Like most criminals, terrorists are naturally reluctant to put the details of their plots down on paper. Thus, they generally depend on oral or electronic communication to formulate the details of their terrorist activities. Although the FBI, and the law enforcement community at large, fully supports the development and use of innovative technologies to ensure that the United States remains competitive in today's global market, we remain extremely concerned about the serious public safety threat posed by the proliferation and misuse of technologies that prevent law enforcement from gaining access to the plaintext of terrorist and/or serious criminal-related evidence obtained through either court-authorized electronic surveillance or the search and seizure of digital evidence.

The use of commercially available, non-recoverable encryption products by individuals engaged in terrorist and other serious criminal activity can effectively prevent law enforcement access to this critical evidence. Law enforcement's inability to gain access to the plaintext of encrypted communications and/or computer evidence in a timely manner seriously impairs our ability to successfully prevent and prosecute terrorist and/or other serious criminal acts.

This significant challenge to effective law enforcement poses grave and serious public safety consequences. Unless the FBI enhances its ability for gathering and processing computer data obtained through electronic surveillance, search and seizure of computer evidence, and its ability to gain access to the plain text of encrypted evidence, investigators and prosecutors will be denied timely access to valuable evidence that could be used to prevent and solve terrorist and other serious criminal acts.

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