Re: Markoff on Clipper III

[Duncan Frissell <frissell@panix.com>]

At 09:35 PM 7/14/96 -0700, David Sternlight wrote:

>Did you miss the part in the Constitution about "provide for the common
>defence" 

That's a meaningless part of the Preamble.  And in any case, it's a
statement of why "the People of the United States" wrote the Constitution.
It's not an oath of the President.

>and about the President's associated responsibility to "take care
>that the laws be faithfully executed"?

There is no law that specifically controls export of crypto, is there?  I
was under the impression that is an item on a list of regulated items drawn
up by bureaucrats and could be changed any time the Executive Branch chose.
a reg isn't a law.  

>And what oath do you suppose binds him because "The President shall be
>commander in chief of the army and navy of the United States"?

That's a job title.  It doesn't command him as to what he should do in the
job.  In fact, the Commander In Chief is not under the Uniform Code of
Military Justice and so can do anything he wants with that particular
"office" subject only to impeachment and the willingness of the armed forces
to obey him.

It certainly doesn't require him to adopt any particular regulatory
strategy.  President Browne could legalize the export of all crypto by
executive order on January 20th 1997 without violating his oath.  That's one
of the effects of a "strong executive."

DCF