It is a tool, just like nuclear weapons are a weapon.
I'm definitely not on the "ban all crypto" side, but I see why the governments are in support of that, and for the longest time, strong crypto was (and still is?) classified as a munition; it's very powerful.
>>userbi+(OP)
Well, I think governments are mostly concerned with people having secrets. Who would need secrets who isn't a terrorist? That it was classified as munition is probably more due to old war hawks and how they saw encryption employed.