But there were some cogent arguments on the other side of this debate. Those who supported Clipper chip technology contended that it was vital in order to undermine the plans of terrorists who might be using encrypted communication to plan their attack. According to one account, "if the crypto revolution crippled NSA's ability to listen in on the world, the agency might miss out on something for instance portents of a major terrorist attack."i Clearly the risks of not being able to decipher encoded information could be disproportionate to the costs and disadvantages of implementing the Clipper chip scheme. According to Steven Levy, government officials were hoping that the "public will realize that allowing Government to hold the key is a relatively safe price to pay for safety and national security."15 Law enforcement authorities were especially insistent about the need for this technology. In 1995, during the height of the controversy, FBI Director Louis Freeh offered these remarks to a congressional com mittee: Unless the issue of encryption is resolved soon, criminal conversations over the telephone and other communications devices will become indeci- pherable by law enforcement. This, as much as any issue, jeopardizes the