J.R.McHale

**Background:** The leaked [NSC Draft Options Paper](http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-nsc-draft-options-paper-on-strategic-approaches-to-encryption/1742/) – at The Washington Post

**News Story:** [Obama Faces Growing Momentum to Support Widespread Encryption](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/tech-trade-agencies-push-to-disavow-law-requiring-decryption-of-phones/2015/09/16/1fca5f72-5adf-11e5-b38e-06883aacba64_story.html?postshare=691442489453096) – The Washington Post

**Skepticism:** [Obama Edges Toward Full Support for Encryption – But Does He Understand What that Means?](http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/16/obama_edging_toward_support_for_encryption?mt=1442491356410) – Kieren McCarthy at The Register:
> “By voluntary cooperation [in the absence of compulsion], what is the White House saying? That the encryption is secure and backdoor-free until a company cooperates with the Feds, at which point the encryption is somehow dialed back, and messages and files can be suddenly magically read? That sounds like a backdoor. Does the White House want, say, Apple to volunteer, at the sight of a warrant, to intercept key exchanges in the cloud so that intercepted iMessages can be decrypted? Won’t that undermine the whole practice of end-to-end encryption by introducing backdoors by another name? Either encryption is secure and backdoor-free, or it isn’t and is generally useless. We assume by ‘voluntary cooperation,’ the President is willing to be told to get lost by the tech giants in November – if they have the strength to do so. If not, then all of this is a sham; a political maneuver to keep privacy-loving nerds quiet. It is very possible that the decision has already been made and outreach is about to begin, leading to the leak of the NSC memo.”