FBI Director James Comey paid a visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to continue his campaign against encryption. Unlike four months ago, however, he’s no longer asking lawmakers for a “legislative fix.”
“There has not yet been a decision whether to seek legislation,” Comey said before the committee, in an opening statement. He testified alongside Deputy Attorney General Sally Quillian Yates.
He reiterated later in the day, during a hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, that the FBI is not seeking to “impose a one size fits all” solution from Washington that would grant law enforcement access to encrypted communications.
The remarks contrast sharply with statements the director made earlier this year to lawmakers, when he called encryption a “huge problem” for law enforcement that required congressional action.
“I think it’s going to require some sort of legislative fix,” Comey said during a March Appropriations subcommittee hearing.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, along with public interest groups and technologists, have battered the FBI Director for his opinions on encryption since last October, when he proclaimed during a speech at the Brookings Institute that law enforcement is “going dark.”
Those privacy advocates argue that any effort to weaken encrypted communications by mandating pathways for law enforcement to access them will make users—and the internet as a whole—less secure. Those proposed weaknesses, they say, could be exploited not just by police, but also foreign governments and hackers.
Instead of asking lawmakers for new mandates on tech companies, Deputy Attorney General Yates, called for more negotiations.
“We’re recommending that you engage with this industry to work with them to find a way for us to be able to get access to that information through them,” she commented.
Yates later envisioned a scenario where companies would “retain an ability to be able to access” encrypted communications, and provide them to the FBI “with lawful court orders.”
The statements spooked Sen. Ron Wyden who, during afternoon questioning in the intelligence committee, probed Director Comey about plans to force companies to create and maintain “some kind of stockpile of encryption keys.”
“I think this proposal is a big time loser. I hope we’re not going to go there,” he said, remarking the stockpiles would be a prime target for hackers. Comey assured Wyden that Yates was not advocating for any such legislation.
At numerous times during both hearings, the FBI Director appeared in over his head, in terms of technological literacy. He flatly and unapologetically told lawmakers “I don’t know” in response to questions about encrypted technologies.
At one point during the intelligence committee hearing, Sen. Roy Blount (D-Mo.) called for having a more “technical” discussion in closed session with experts on the matter. “Not to diminish either your ability in this area or mine,” Blunt said to Comey.
The Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) agreed, and said discussions were ongoing about putting together a series of classified hearings in the future to “better understand what our options might be.”
