Allow me to introduce to you the Jefferson Disk, invented by the man who largely wrote the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, also known as having the 3rd president of our fair republic.
This particular cypher was good enough that a variation of it was used as late as 1942 by the U.S military.
What appears to be new, however is demands by the government that they always have access to break said encryption when employed by lowly citizens. Personally, I find it hard to believe that Mr. Jefferson would have supported that point of view.