The American intelligence community supports strong encryption for smartphone users, the head of national intelligence said on Monday. He also said that according to National Security Agency estimates, encrypted communication technology had advanced by the equivalent of nearly a decade over just the last three years.
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“I think the intelligence community … Director [James] Comey of the FBI, [Adm. Mike] Rogers of the NSA, have been pretty consistent in support of strong encryption,” Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said at a breakfast event by the Christian Science Monitor.
He added that leaks by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 hastened the development of commercial encryption technology. “I will tell you that as a result of the Snowden revelations, the onset of commercial encryption has accelerated by about seven years. And it has had, and is having, a major, profound effect on our ability … particularly against terrorists,” Clapper said.
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He also said that he was not going to take a position on draft legislation circulating in Congress, but that he hoped private industry and government would find a way to collaborate on their own. “That’s been characteristic of our country … finding a way to thread the needle, ensuring privacy and security, particularly on an individual basis as well as security in the context of what’s best for the collective good.
“Somehow we need to find a balance … I’m not an IT expert, I don’t know the technicalities of how we might arrive there,” Clapper added. “I would hope, I place great faith and confidence in the tremendous technological ingenuity and creativity that we have in this country. This is one case where there needs to be a partnership between industry, the private sector and the government.”
