Reposted from Dan Hesse's LinkedIn series on Executive Leadership and Corporate Responsibility. The following was published February 23, 2016. 

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As criminal and terrorist technical methods evolve, the tradeoffs between what it takes to keep us safe versus protecting our civil liberties and privacy bears vigilance. As my concluding quote in Friday’s Wall Street Journal article suggests, patriotic people who love our country and who have the values we hold dear are on both sides of this debate.  

As a former telecom CEO, I’ve been faced with this dilemma.  A CEO has to balance the interests of customers, shareholders, the public at large and the communities served, while upholding the law (which is not always crystal clear).  It’s important that US law be specific and evolve as technologies and criminal tactics do. If we’re to find a“Goldilocks solution” (getting it “just right”), it requires more trust and dialogue between privacy advocates and law enforcement than exists today.