On Capitol Hill on Wednesday, Michael Steinbach, the assistant director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's counterterrorism division, told the House Homeland Security Committee that the FBI is "imploring for Congress to help" law enforcement with its quest to decrypt digital communications.

Steinbach said that the FBI is working with the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that the law enforcement tactics currently in use can be implemented as needed, but suggested that legislation might be needed for situations where communications being sought are obfuscated from the eyes of investigators by encryption or other means.

According to Steinbach, individuals belonging to the group calling itself the Islamic State (also known as ISIS, or ISIL), are making the jobs of counterterrorism investigators increasingly difficult by relying more and more on methods of communication that cannot be compromised as easily as more mainstream mediums.