Press Releases

Congresswoman Suzan DelBene (WA-01) today helped introduce a bill to create a Digital Security Commission bringing stakeholders together to develop recommendations for maintaining privacy and digital security.

“All sides – including lawmakers, industry leaders, privacy advocates, security experts and law enforcement – need to come together to ensure we’re doing everything we can to protect our national security in a responsible way,” DelBene said. “Keeping Americans safe is always my top priority, but as someone with a long career in technology, I know that requiring U.S. tech companies to weaken their devices with ‘backdoors’ would weaken our national security, not strengthen it. We can and must preserve the balance between respecting one’s right to privacy and protecting our national security.”

DelBene joined a bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers led by Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) in introducing the legislation.

Lawmakers are weighing concerns about how to best protect Americans’ privacy and national security as some law enforcement have demanded U.S. tech companies turn over the personal information of customers. DelBene criticized the court for using a law from 1789 – the All Writs Act – to justify requiring Apple to create a backdoor for encrypted communications.

Tomorrow the House Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing on encryption. DelBene has also introduced legislation to prevent states from passing laws to ban encryption on any smartphone sold in their respective states.

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