| The United States leads the world in developing and employing encryption technology, but has problems in deciding a balance between information access and security requirements. Encryption use is both a powerful enabler of global information economies and global networks of criminals, spies, and terrorists. This dissertation explains how three decades of decisions and actions have produced a de facto encryption policy. By analyzing decisions and actions according to metrics derived from Graham T. Allison's decision models, I found that groups of actors exhibited convergent decision behaviors described by the Rational Actor Model and by a mix of the Organizational Behavior and Governmental Politics Models. Currently, an encryption policy status quo is the result of decisions and actions made according to the Rational Actor Model and by organizations changing their governing variables. As a policy forecast, I believe that a successful encryption policy should be market-based, but the government must be proactive with public policies when information security failures occur. |
