Dear Member of the U.S. Congress:

As with millions of individuals around the world, the members of the U.S.  Public Policy Committee of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) are appalled and saddened by the deplorable acts of terror perpetrated against America on September 11, 2001.

We stand ready to assist in rebuilding, and in responding to the threats to civilization posed by terrorists and criminals.  Working together, we are confident our nation can face these challenges and thus continue to advance technological innovation and provide world scientific leadership.  We are ready and willing to contribute to these efforts with our expertise and leadership in computing, networking, security, cryptography, and privacy.

While we recognize growing public demands seeking immediate actions intended to ensure the safety and security of our citizens, we urge Congress and the Administration to carefully consider the full ramifications of all legislative or regulatory actions being contemplated.  Measures passed in haste often have unintended consequences, especially if there is insufficient consideration given to comments by independent technical experts.  It would be unfortunate if side-effects of protective measures actually serve to damage the progress of science, economic growth, and the overall security of our infrastructure.

In addition, at this difficult time when many important funding decisions are being made, we further urge you to continue to support our nation's investment in computing research and technology.  Many experts and federally-chartered commissions have correctly recognized that advances in many fields - including national security - are intrinsically linked to federally funded long-term information technology research activities.  We must act strategically to sustain and build our nation's human resource strength and flow of technological innovation.  It would be a tactical and strategic error to sacrifice our future strength while responding to our near-term threats.

Throughout the many days and months to come, we will continue to offer our technical expertise to assist policy-makers in their important efforts.  Please feel free to call on us by contacting the ACM Policy Office at (202) 659-9711.

Sincerely,

Barbara Simons, Ph.D.
Eugene H. Spafford, Ph.D.

Co-Chairs
U.S. ACM Public Policy Committee
Association for Computing Machinery