Jeh Johnson warns of post-Snowden encryption frenzy

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says Edward Snowden’s disclosures about the National Security Agency’s collection of bulk data “changed the landscape” with regard to encryption, making it harder for local and federal law enforcement to track potential terrorist threats.

“We are concerned that with deeper and deeper encryption, the demands of the marketplace for greater cybersecurity, deeper encryption in basic communications,” Johnson said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Friday. “It is making it harder for the FBI and state and local law enforcement to track crime, to track potential terrorist activity.”

Snowden’s disclosures, Johnson said, “have been one of the drivers toward the demand for more and more encryption in the marketplace.”

With this month’s ruling by a federal appeals court that the agency’s bulk phone data collection is illegal and was never authorized by Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, Johnson said it would be more difficult to monitor potential leads.

“We’ve got to find a solution to this, and we’re thinking about this very actively right now,” he said.

The remarks come two days after a bipartisan House vote to formally end the NSA’s bulk phone data collection. Section 215 expires June 1, before which time lawmakers must come up with a compromise bill to avoid its expiration.