National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

The National Academy of Sciences is a private, non-profit society of distinguished scholars established by an Act of Congress and signed by President Abraham Lincoln in 1863. Through a diverse research committee, the National Academy is developing a research agenda and recommending research governance approaches for climate intervention strategies that reflect sunlight to cool Earth. The National Academy’s study is addressing research needs and relevant governance in tandem, such that understanding and thinking of each can inform the other.

The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine helps shape sound policies, inform public opinion, and advance the pursuit of science, engineering, and medicine. The award supports a study examining tradeoffs associated with access mechanisms that would provide authorized government agencies with the ability to decrypt or otherwise access encrypted information for law enforcement and intelligence gathering purposes and the potential civil liberties and data security challenges that might arise from such mechanisms. The study will not answer whether access mechanisms should be required but rather will provide a thorough analysis of options and tradeoffs associated with them along with policy recommendations. A final report will be issued by the National Academies that aims to help advance a more technically informed conversation about balancing civil liberties, data security, law enforcement and national security in the digital age as it relates to encryption technologies.