Agreed with Phil here. Clipper can't have been developed since Inauguration Day; it has to be a hand-me-down from the Bush administration, and I'm willing to bet that Clinton has been sold a bill of goods to get his support. Now a lot of folks on this list are ideologically committed to positions which are opposite to those of the Clinton amdministration, but please let's not let that blur our perception here. Clinton has shown a decent commitment to civil liberties (particularly concerning sexual freedom and reproductive rights, a very hard place to take a stand because there's such strong rightwing opposition); he's also shown an interest in telecom issues; I suspect what we're facing here isn't malice but lack of information on his part. Crypto is an elite area in math and computer science; for most people outside of this circle it's something they assume that they could never possibly understand and so they tend to accept the word of experts at hand. And the experts who are closest to the White House are at Fort Meade. The task we face is to bring the expertise of the best minds on our side, to the attention of the White House. -gg