White House Announces Clipper Chip Key-Escrow Encryption Initiative
Event Reviewed Automatically reviewed for factual accuracy, tone, and neutrality. Review does not check claims against cited sources. Last reviewed 22 October 2026.The White House announces a voluntary government-industry program built around the Clipper Chip, a government-developed encryption microcircuit for telephones whose two unique keys would be held in key-escrow databases established by the Attorney General and released to officials with legal authorization to conduct a wiretap.
Government proposes holding copies of telephone encryption keys, opening a national encryption policy debate.
The chip implemented SKIPJACK, an 80-bit-key encryption algorithm developed by the National Security Agency in consultation with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and federal law enforcement. Each chip’s key was to be split into two parts held by separate escrow agents designated by the Attorney General, so that both were needed to decrypt an intercepted call. The same announcement directed federal agencies to develop a comprehensive encryption policy covering privacy, law enforcement access and export competitiveness. NIST published the proposed key escrow standard for public comment on July 30, 1993, and had received about three hundred comments by that October.
Sources
- 01.
The White House, Office of the Press Secretary. Statement by the Press Secretary. (1993). Archived Clinton White House statement dated April 16, 1993. Source for the voluntary government-industry program for telephone communications, the 'Clipper Chip' developed by 'government engineers', the two unique keys per device deposited in two key-escrow databases established by the Attorney General, access limited to officials with legal authorization to conduct a wiretap, and the President's direction to agencies to develop a comprehensive policy on encryption.
- 02.
Electronic Privacy Information Center. Statement by the Press Secretary (April 16, 1993), as archived by EPIC. (1993). EPIC's archived copy of the same White House statement; confirms the date and the key-escrow arrangement.
- 03.
Kammer, R. G. (1993). Testimony of Raymond G. Kammer, Deputy Director, NIST, on key escrow encryption. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (hosted by the Federation of American Scientists). October 26, 1993 testimony. Source for the NSA having developed the key escrow encryption technology 'in consultation with NIST and the federal law enforcement community', the 80-bit SKIPJACK algorithm, the Attorney General designating the two escrow agents, and NIST publishing the proposed standard for public comment on July 30, 1993 and receiving about three hundred comments.
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