23 October 1999
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 00:29:20 -0400 To: politech@vorlon.mit.edu From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com> Subject: FC: DEA says drug smugglers used crypto & Net but cops got around it Note this sounds a lot like what the DEA and Reno have been saying for years: inserting backdoors into crypto products to preserve the balance between privacy and snoopability. So what's changed after the announcement last month? DEA: "We hope that we don't lose the ability to intercept encrypted communications." (He doesn't seem to know what he's talking about, but appears to mean decrypting and not intercepting.) Reno: "It is going to be more and more difficult for law enforcement... make sure that we balance the privacy concerns that are so important with law enforcement's legitimate concerns." -Declan ********** PRESS CONFERENCE WITH U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO COLOMBIAN AMBASSADOR ALBERTO MORENO SUBJECT: ARREST OF COLOMBIAN DRUG TRAFFICKERS IN OPERATION MILLENNIUM THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON, D.C. OCTOBER 13, 1999, WEDNESDAY Acting Administrator Donnie Marshall of the Drug Enforcement Administration ... MR. MARSHALL: Thank you, Attorney General. And congratulations to Ambassador Moreno for a job well done by the law enforcement authorities in his country. The operation that we're announcing today is, in my opinion, one of the most significant operations in the history of drug enforcement, Operation Millennium. It began when, about a year ago, at the request of the United States government, two of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world today were investigated by the Colombian government, the Colombian national police, and today those two traffickers, along with a number of others, were arrested. ... In this case, the defendants used very sophisticated communications equipment, including use of the Internet, encrypted telephones, and cloned cellular telephones, in what was a vain attempt to avoid detection. But in the end, it was these very devices which led to the devastating evidence against them. Through the use of judicial wiretaps and intercepts in both Colombia and in the United States, their communications were intercepted and recorded, thus producing evidence which comes straight from the defendants' own mouths. In addition, Drug Enforcement agents executed a covert search warrant for evidence contained in a computer located in South Florida at the residence of one of the defendants, which acted as the center of their operation in South Florida, thus uncovering the method of communication through the Internet. Our prosecutors, agents and investigators in South Florida await the opportunity to bring these defendants before a court to face the charges. Thank you. ... Q You were talking about the sophisticated kinds of communication devices, and you mentioned the Internet. Did that include net phones? (U.S Attorney Tom Scott from Miami) MR. SCOTT: They had various -- and the DEA people can speak to this, but they had encrypted phones; they used all types of different phones. They'd get phones and throw them away. And they even used the Internet. So it was pretty sophisticated electronic methods of trying to avoid detection, but the intercepts, both in Colombia and the United States picked up. Q And did you have trouble in any way with the state of law enforcement's abilities to intercept these kinds of devices? Were there any problems? MR. SCOTT: No, I think this case demonstrates that through -- we made a request on the Colombian government, through the Vienna Convention, through letters rogatory, and they proceeded immediately to conduct the investigation and to get the judicial intercepts to their prosecutors, and I think that was very effective. Q There were no technical problems, though, in gaining access to these conversations? MR. SCOTT: We were very satisfied with the investigation the way it was conducted. Q Mr. Marshall, on her point, please. The head of the DEA and the FBI have repeatedly -- and Ms. Reno have repeatedly warned of the dangers of not being able to break the codes of criminals. And of course encryption legislation is being debated at length. Is this an indication that maybe that's not so great a problem after all? MR. MARSHALL: Well, that was not a significant impediment in this particular investigation. We've encountered that in many, many other investigations. We're encountering it ever more frequently. And we hope that we don't lose the ability to intercept encrypted communications. Q Mr. Ambassador -- ATTY. GEN. RENO: I would point out -- I would point out in that regard that in this instance, it was not an obstacle. But as more and more drug traffickers and others engaged in organized crime and other activities, including terrorism, encrypt their communication, it is going to be more and more difficult for law enforcement. And that is the reason it is so important law enforcement work with the private sector and with others to ensure the protection of our national security interests and to make sure that we balance the privacy concerns that are so important with law enforcement's legitimate concerns. ... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology To subscribe: send a message to majordomo@vorlon.mit.edu with this text: subscribe politech More information is at http://www.well.com/~declan/politech/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Archer" <archer@charter.net> To: <cryptography@c2.net> Subject: Re: DEA says drug smugglers used crypto & Net but cops got around it Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 19:50:02 -0400 I used to work for a guy who was an ex NSA man. He had his own company that built crypto phones and sold them world wide. The Saudis bought them as well as a few smaller countries. One time he had guy with "a South American accent" call him to order some phones. He contacted the agency to see if they had any problems They said no problem, send them on. I later asked him why this was ok, since he believed he knew where they were headed. He smiled and told me that he had given they keys to the protocol that he had written (that the phones used) to the Agency some time before. He has been out of the business for some time now. He sold these in the early to mid 80s. So this is old news but it kind of opened my eyes.