| Wall Street Journal | - |
Senior
Obama administration officials will hold high-level discussions with
Silicon Valley CEOs on Friday, an escalation of their attempts to
persuade the executives to do more to block terrorists from using the
Internet to recruit and incite violence ...
Discussion to center on whether social-media firms can do more to thwart terrorists
ENLARGE
President Barack Obama
at a national security team meeting at the National Counterterrorism
Center in McLean, Va., in December. Also pictured: National Counter
Terrorism Center Director Nicholas Rasmussen, Attorney General Loretta
Lynch, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, Secretary of
State John Kerry, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson and Federal
Bureau of Investigations Director James Comey.
Photo:
Mark Wilson/Getty Images
Some of the most powerful officials in government, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper plan to take part in the meeting, signaling the urgency the White House places on the matter.
Mr. Comey intends to fly to California to attend the meeting in person, according to people familiar with the plans. It wasn’t immediately clear how many of the other senior U.S. officials would make the trip with him and how many may join instead by teleconference.
From the industry side, top executives from a host of household-name firms are expected to take part, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and others, these people said. “I can confirm that we were invited to the meeting tomorrow and we plan on sending someone,” said a Facebook spokeswoman, declining further comment.
The gathering is tentatively scheduled for 11 a.m. Pacific time in San Jose.
Social media companies like
Facebook and Twitter are facing pressure to identify and shut down
accounts that spread ISIS propaganda. WSJ's Shelby Holliday explains the
challenges of regulating speech online. PHOTO: AP
But the companies have resisted some requests by law-enforcement leaders to take action, making it clear they are very wary of being seen to be helping the government spy on their customers.
Advocates on both sides have been watching to see whether recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., would make the public more receptive to law-enforcement arguments, though so far there is no clear indication of such a mood swing. Some members of Congress have introduced bills intended in part to pressure Silicon Valley to take a more cooperative approach.
Friday’s meeting highlights this renewed push by law enforcement and intelligence officials. Other top officials expected to attend are Mike Rogers, director of the National Security Agency, Lisa Monaco, the president’s counterterrorism aide, and Megan Smith, the White House chief technology officer, these people said.
On the industry side, the list of attendees is still in flux, but invitations have been issued to more than a dozen of the top Internet firms’ CEOs.
Related
One such secondary topic will be officials’ concerns that tech companies provide highly encrypted communications that terrorists use to hide their planning. The two sides also plan to discuss possible ways to encourage outside groups to create online counter-messages to more effectively attack the propaganda of groups like Islamic State, according to people familiar with the meeting agenda.
Washington and Silicon Valley have been increasingly at odds since revelations by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden about the extent of government spying on electronic communications.
—Deepa Seetharaman contributed to this article.
Write to Devlin Barrett at devlin.barrett@wsj.com and Damian Paletta at damian.paletta@wsj.comend quote from:
