Burr And Feinstein Plan One Sided Briefing For Law Enforcement To Bitch About 'Going Dark'
With the world mocking the sheer ignorance of their anti-encryption bill, Senators Richard Burr and Dianne Feinstein are doubling down by planning a staff "briefing" on the issue of "going dark" with a panel that is made up entirely of law enforcement folks. As far as we can tell, it hasn't been announced publicly, but an emailed announcement was forwarded to us, in which they announce the "briefing" (notably not a "hearing") on "barriers to law enforcement's ability to lawfully access the electronic evidence they need to identify suspects, solve crimes, exonerate the innocent and protect communities from further crime." The idea here is to convince others in Congress to support their ridiculous bill by gathering a bunch of staffers and scaring them with bogeyman stories of "encryption caused a crime wave!" As such, it's no surprise that the panelists aren't just weighted heavily in one direction, they're practically flipping the boat. Everyone on the panel comes from the same perspective, and will lay out of the argument for "encryption bad!" PANELISTS
Chief Terrence M. Cunningham
President, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Wellesley, MA, Police Department
Hillar C. Moore, III
District Attorney, 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office
Baton Rouge, LA
Sheriff James Alton Cannon, Jr.
Charleston County, SC, Sheriff's Office
Chief Commissioner Patrick Stevens
Chief Commissioner, Liaison Officer for the Belgian Federal Police
to the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas
Colonel Joseph R. Fuentes
Superintendent, New Jersey State Police As Marcy Wheeler points out, it does seem odd that these two Senators who are on the Senate Intelligence Committee are pushing so strongly on this issue, when the focus on law enforcement should put it squarely in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In fact, it's not even clear that this briefing is officially Intelligence Committee business at all, but rather just a chance for Burr and Feinsten to push their story from the one side that's already been the most vocal in trying to turn something that isn't actually a problem into something that they insist must be a problem.
The briefing is scheduled to be held this coming Wednesday morning in the Capitol Visitor Center and will be the Senators latest effort to scare the logic out of their colleagues.
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Chief Terrence M. Cunningham
President, International Association of Chiefs of Police
Wellesley, MA, Police Department
Hillar C. Moore, III
District Attorney, 19th Judicial District Attorney's Office
Baton Rouge, LA
Sheriff James Alton Cannon, Jr.
Charleston County, SC, Sheriff's Office
Chief Commissioner Patrick Stevens
Chief Commissioner, Liaison Officer for the Belgian Federal Police
to the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas
Colonel Joseph R. Fuentes
Superintendent, New Jersey State Police As Marcy Wheeler points out, it does seem odd that these two Senators who are on the Senate Intelligence Committee are pushing so strongly on this issue, when the focus on law enforcement should put it squarely in the Senate Judiciary Committee. In fact, it's not even clear that this briefing is officially Intelligence Committee business at all, but rather just a chance for Burr and Feinsten to push their story from the one side that's already been the most vocal in trying to turn something that isn't actually a problem into something that they insist must be a problem.
The briefing is scheduled to be held this coming Wednesday morning in the Capitol Visitor Center and will be the Senators latest effort to scare the logic out of their colleagues.
Permalink | Comments | Email This Story