    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: WILLIAM J. CLINTON (1999, Book II)]
    [September 16, 1999]
    [Pages 1551-1552]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Message to the Congress Transmitting Proposed Legislation on Security of
    Electronic Information
    September 16, 1999

    To the Congress of the United States:
        I am pleased to transmit for your early consideration and speedy
    enactment a legislative proposal entitled the ``Cyberspace Electronic
    Security Act of 1999'' (CESA). Also transmitted herewith is a section-
    by-section analysis.
        There is little question that continuing advances in technology are
    changing forever the way in which people live, the way they communicate
    with each other, and the manner in which they work and conduct commerce.
    In just a few years, the Internet has shown the world a glimpse of what
    is attainable in the information age. As a result, the demand for more
    and better access to information and electronic commerce continues to
    grow--among not just individuals and consumers, but also among
    financial, medical, and educational institutions, manufacturers and
    merchants, and State and local governments. This increased reliance on
    information and communications raises important privacy issues because
    Americans want assurance that their sensitive personal and business
    information is protected from unauthorized access as it resides on and
    traverses national and international communications networks. For
    Americans to trust this new electronic environment, and for the promise
    of electronic commerce and the global information infrastructure to be
    fully realized, information systems must provide methods to protect the
    data and communications of legitimate users. Encryption can address this
    need because encryption can be used to protect the confidentiality of
    both stored data and communications. Therefore, my Administration
    continues to support the development, adoption, and use of robust
    encryption by legitimate users.
        At the same time, however, the same encryption products that help
    facilitate confidential communications between law-abiding citizens also
    pose a significant and undeniable public safety risk when used to
    facilitate and mask illegal and criminal activity. Although cryptography
    has many legitimate and important uses, it is also increasingly used as
    a means to promote criminal activity, such as drug trafficking,
    terrorism, white collar crime, and the distribution of child
    pornography.
        The advent and eventual widespread use of encryption poses
    significant and heretofore unseen challenges to law enforcement and
    public safety. Under existing statutory and constitutional law, law
    enforcement is provided with different means to collect evidence of
    illegal activity in such forms as communications or stored data on
    computers. These means are rendered wholly insufficient when encryption
    is utilized to scramble the information in such a manner that law
    enforcement, acting pursuant to lawful authority, cannot decipher the
    evidence in a timely manner, if at all. In the context of law
    enforcement operations, time is of the essence and may mean the
    difference between success and catastrophic failure.
        A sound and effective public policy must support the development and
    use of encryption for

    [[Page 1552]]

    legitimate purposes but allow access to plaintext by law enforcement
    when encryption is utilized by criminals. This requires an approach that
    properly balances critical privacy interest with the need to preserve
    public safety. As is explained more fully in the sectional analysis that
    accompanies this proposed legislation, the CESA provides such a balance
    by simultaneously creating significant new privacy protections for
    lawful users of encryption, while assisting law enforcement's efforts to
    preserve existing and constitutionally supported means of responding to
    criminal activity.
        The CESA establishes limitations on government use and disclosure of
    decryption keys obtained by court process and provides special
    protections for decryption keys stored with third party ``recovery
    agents.'' CESA authorizes a recovery agent to disclose stored recovery
    information to the government, or to use stored recovery information on
    behalf of the government, in a narrow range of circumstances (e.g.,
    pursuant to a search warrant or in accordance with a court order under
    the Act). In addition, CESA would authorize appropriations for the
    Technical Support Center in the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which
    will serve as a centralized technical resource for Federal, State, and
    local law enforcement in responding to the increasing use of encryption
    by criminals.
        I look forward to working with the Congress on this important
    national issue.

                                                          William J. Clinton

    The White House,

    September 16, 1999.