[[File:NSA-diagram-001.jpg|thumb|right|Slide published by the Guardian diagramming the high-level architecture of NSA's "Exploitation [Cracking] of Common Internet Encryption Technologies"]]
Through the NSA-designed [[Clipper chip]] andwhich theused [[Skipjack (cipher)|Skipjack algorithm]] itcipher implementedwith an intentional backdoor, and using various specifically designed laws such as [[Communications_Assistance_for_Law_Enforcement_Act|CALEA]], the [[Cyberspace Electronic Security Act|CESA]] and [[Bernstein v. United States|restrictions on the export of encryption software as evidenced by [[Bernstein v. United States]], the U.S. government had publicly attempted in the 1990s to ensure its access to communications and ability to decrypt.<ref name="reason-cesa">{{cite web | url=http://reason.com/archives/2000/05/01/rendering-unto-cesa | title=Rendering Unto CESA: Clinton's contradictory encryption policy. | publisher=Reason | date=May 2000 | accessdate=2013-09-09 | author=Mike Godwin|quote=[...] there was an effort to regulate the use and sale of encryption tools, domestically and abroad. [...] By 1996, the administration had abandoned the Clipper Chip as such, but it continued to lobby both at home and abroad for software-based "key escrow" encryption standards.}}</ref><ref name="epic-keyescrow">{{cite web | url=http://epic.org/crypto/key_escrow/wh_cke_796.html | quote=Although we do not control the use of encryption within the US, we do, with some exceptions, limit the export of non-escrowed mass market encryption to products using a key length of 40 bits.|title=Administration Statement on Commercial Encryption Policy | date=July 12, 1996 | accessdate=2013-09-09}}</ref> TheIn government'sparticular, promotiontechnical ofmeasures such as [[key escrow]], a euphemism for a [[backdoor (computing)|backdoor]], hadhave met with criticism and little success.
Fearing widespread adoption of encryption, the NSA set out to stealthily influence and weaken encryption standards and obtain master keys—either by agreement, by force of law, or by computer network exploitation ([[hacker (computer security)|hacking]]).<ref name="nytimes2">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/06/us/nsa-foils-much-internet-encryption.html?pagewanted=3&_r=0</ref>
