Skip to main content

Scientific Communication and National Security (1982) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

Appendix E: Voluntary Restraints on Research with National Security Implications: The Case of Cryptography, 1975-1982
Pages 120-125

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 120...
... m e letter was signed by an IEEE member, Joseph Meyer, who gave only his home address, but who turned out to be an employee of the National Security Agency (NSA)
Read the entire page →
From page 121...
... This agreement between the two agencies, confirmed in a letter to NSA from the Director of the NSF Division on Mathematical and Computer Sciences in November 1980, is now observed informally by all other NSF divisions as well. In September 1978 NSF Director Richard Atkinson visited the NSA to discuss the likely response of NSA if NSF-supported basic research began to impinge on areas related to national security.
Read the entire page →
From page 122...
... and the NSF, mutually satisfactory wording for the reporting requirement was worked out, and a grant was made to Rivest on September 25, 1981. On April 2, 1982, President Reagan signed Executive Order 12356 on National Security Information.
Read the entire page →
From page 123...
... It is worried that open publication would jeopardize national security by making available to foreign governments encryption techniques that NSA would have difficulty breaking, call to the attention of foreign governments the vulnerability of their own encryption methods, and reveal knowledge that might endanger the inviolability of codes used by the United States. It is important to note that those aspects of cryptology that are applicable to national defense are considered a munition and require a license for export under the Arms Export Control Act of 1976.
Read the entire page →
From page 124...
... Manuscripts would be returned promptly to the authors with explanations "to the extent feasible of proposed changes, deletions, or delays in publication, if any." ~~ art author who disagreed wits NSA' S views on a manuscript could request a review by a committee composed of two members appointed by the director of the NSA and three appointed by the President's science advisor. The entire process would be voluntary, with neither authors nor publishers required to participate or comply with any proposed restrictions.
Read the entire page →
From page 125...
... These characteristics do not prevail in other areas of science and technology. Hence, it is far more difficult for the government to evaluate the potential impact on national security of any single research paper in other areas of science and technology.
Read the entire page →

Key Terms

  • classification authority
  • require classification
  • original classification
  • executive order
  • control act

  • arms export
  • nsf program
  • authority originates
  • public cryptography
  • research papers

  • export control
  • unclassified research
  • cryptography study
  • originates information
  • ronald rivest

  • foreign governments
  • information believed
  • secrecy act
  • nsa sponsor
  • constituting radical

  • trial basis
  • seriously damage
  • sought nor
  • program official
  • rare instances

  • suppress scholarly
  • submit cryptography
  • george davida
  • invite authors
  • statutory authority


    • This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
    More information on Chapter Skim is available.