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• Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, the Israeli Ministry of Defense has just issued a statement regarding encryption which states that the decontrol of encryption exports, as allowed by the SAFE Act, (H.R. 695) would threaten Israel's national security. Listen carefully to their exact statement: `Israel considers the regulation and control of encryption products and technology to be vital to its national security, the combating of terrorism and effective law enforcement. Engagement of any kind in encryption technology in Israel is controlled by the Government of Israel. Israeli government policy will continue to protect sensitive and essential interests by enforcing strict national security policy in this regard. It is Israel's view that all countries should do their utmost to prevent the acquisition of strong encryption technology and products by terrorist and criminal entities.'

• And yet, as we all know, H.R. 695 allows for the immediate export of unrestricted encryption technology and allows for the acquisition of strong encryption technology by international terrorists. When questioned about the effects of H.R. 695 (The SAFE Act) Major General David Ivry, Advisor to Israel's Minister of Defense said that `we would encourage all of our friends in the United States to oppose the bill.' Any friend of Israel in the United States Congress who are cosponsoring H.R. 695 should ask for a briefing by the NSA and then remove their names from the bill.

• All Americans who care about Israel's security should find out where their Member of Congress stands on this most important issue. The proponents of this bill maintain that Israel's enemies will eventually possess encryption technology. Even if this is true, it fails to explain why we should rush to place this technology in the hands of our enemies.

• The Department of Defense, the National Security Council, the National Security Agency and now the Israel Ministry of Defense believe that America and Israel need time to develop countermeasures to address the various threats posed these new technologies and H.R. 695 does not give us this time. The truth is that now that we have the official Israel position on encryption no real friend of Israel should remain a cosponsor of H.R. 695.

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