The lawmakers did not have any involvement. The executive branch unilaterally abused its power to declare that encryption was a munition, to work around the fact it had no other power to restrict it without convincing the legislature to actually make a law.
If you go by the common interpretation of "munitions" and by and large the contents of that list, then it clearly does was not intended to include mathematics.
> The lawmakers did not have any involvement. The executive branch unilaterally abused its power to declare that encryption was a munition, to work around the fact it had no other power to restrict it without convincing the legislature to actually make a law.
I think you are trying very hard to imagine inconsistencies where there are none. Not only are you trying to argue that cryptographical software is not relevant to military uses, which is an absurd argument to make, but you are also trying to argue that managing what items feature in an export control list is not the responsibility of an executive branch.
The only requirement to export-control something is that the item features in an export-control list. You're complaining that a specific type of software was added to such a list. Tell me exactly what part you don't, can't, or refuse to understand.
If you go by the common interpretation of "munitions" and by and large the contents of that list, then it clearly does was not intended to include mathematics.