I think the point is that within the domain of US commercial for-profit
software companies, strong-encryption-only specs are only going to
appeal to those companies that don't consider their international sales
to be important.
In my opinion, these companies are missing out on a large market that
wants products. [...]
It seems that US companies with an interest in international sales may
be a large faction of the overall IETF membership, but I might be wrong.
You seem to be of the opinion that IETF exists to provide market
opportunities to US companies. You also seem to be of the opinion
that US companies are somehow "members" of IETF. Finally, you seem
to believe that IETF's mission is to endorse the Clinton administraton's
cryptography policy by developing standards which are consistent with
that policy.
None of these is consistent with IETF policy.
IETF is international in scope and does not exist to favor US
companies in any way, regardless of how they might be impeded
by their government.
IETF is not a membership organization, and does not recognize
companies as members. IETF policy is that individuals, not
representatives of organizations, are the technical contributors
to its working groups. [see RFC 1603, sect 1.0, next to last paragraph]
IETF emphatically does not endorse the policies of governments that
prohibit use of encryption, restrict the export of cryptographic
technology, or restrict key lengths, or mandate government recovery
of keys. [see RFC 1984]
If you're trying to acheive such ends, you're in the wrong organization.
Keith