Apple hit back at US Attorney General William Barr who accused the company of refusing to provide ‘substantive assistance’ with unlocking two iPhones used by a gunman who carried out a mass shooting at a Florida military base in December.
Barr demanded that Apple unlock the two cellphones belonging to Mohammed Alshamrani, who killed three American sailors and injured eight others.
The attorney general made the high profile request during a Monday afternoon press conference where he branded the attack an ‘act of terrorism’.
Airman Mohammed Sameh Haitham, Ensign Joshua Kaleb Watson and Airman Apprentice Cameron Scott Walters were killed in the attack when Saudi military trainee Alshamrani opened fire in a classroom at the US Naval Air Station in Pensacola on December 6.
Alshamrani, 21, who was training to be a naval flight officer, was then killed in a shoot-out with police.
Following Barr’s remarks, Apple said it rejected ‘the characterization that Apple has not provided substantive assistance’ in the investigation into the shooting. Apple did not say that it would unlock the phones, instead the company doubled-down on its stance on privacy.
US Attorney General William Barr on Monday demanded that Apple unlock two cellphones used by a gunman who carried out a mass shooting at a Florida military base in December
In its statement, Apple said it responded to all queries from law enforcement officials and turned over all information that it had access to.
The company said it received the first inquiry on January 6 but was not notified of a second iPhone until January 8.
It also said its engineering teams ‘recently had a call to provide additional technical assistance’ to the FBI.
Investigators have been unable to access the two devices – an iPhone 7 and an iPhone 5 – because they are locked and encrypted, according to a letter from the FBI’s general counsel, Dana Boente.
Barr’s latest appeal for Apple’s cooperation marked an escalation of the Justice Department’s ongoing fight with the tech giant over the balance between personal privacy and public safety.
Three American sailors were killed and eight other people were wounded when Saudi military trainee Mohammed Alshamrani (pictured) opened fire in a classroom at the US Naval Air Station in Pensacola on December 6
‘This situation perfectly illustrates why it is critical that the public be able to get access to digital evidence,’ Barr said, accusing Apple of providing no ‘substantive assistance’.
The attorney general indicated that he intends to use the Alshamrani case to push for a solution to the DOJ’s struggle to get around Apple security features.
‘We don’t want to get into a world where we have to spend months and even years exhausting efforts when lives are in the balance,’ he said.
‘We should be able to get in when we have a warrant that establishes that criminal activity is underway.’
FBI officials obtained court authorization to search the phones but have failed to gain access by guessing the passwords, Boente said.
At least one of the phones was shot by a sheriff’s deputy during the attack, but investigators believe they may still be able to extract data from the device, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Sources close to Apple told the New York Times that the company will not back down from its unequivocal support of impossible-to-crack encryption.
Apple has long touted security as a major feature of its phones and in 2014 began building encryption into devices that can only be unlocked with a password or fingerprint reader. Apple said that even the company is unable to bypass the security.
The company has said that obtaining data from phones would require it to build a backdoor, which would set a dangerous precedent for user privacy and security..
Apple executives have warned that gaining access to one phone would compromise the security of all devices because law enforcement would demand to use the back door excessively.
Earlier this week, the FBI asked Apple to help extract data from two iPhones that belonged to the gunman. Investigators have been unable to access the two devices – an iPhone 7 and an iPhone 5 (pictured) – because they are locked and encrypted
Barr indicated that he intends to use the Alshamrani case to push for a solution to the DOJ’s struggle to get around Apple security features
Meanwhile, law enforcement officials have accused Apple of providing a safe haven for criminals.
Officials have managed to get around Apple’s resistance in the past – most notably while investigating a terrorist attack that left 14 people dead in San Bernardino, California, in late 2015.
Apple defied a court order to assist the FBI in its efforts to search an iPhone belonging to the suspect – sparking the public safety vs user privacy debate.
The immediate dispute was resolved when the FBI found a private company to bypass the encryption.
The over-arching debate, however, was escalated as Apple worked to ensure that neither the government nor private contractors would be able to gain access to devices in the future.
In the Alshamrani case, DOJ officials say that they need access to the gunman’s phones to see data and messages from encrypted apps like Signal or WhatsApp and determine whether he had discussed his plans with others at the base and if he was acting alone.
At Monday’s press conference Barr said that Alshamrani was motivated by ‘jihadist ideology’ and had posted anti-American, anti-Israeli and jihadist messages on social media. Some of those messages were shared within hours of the shooting.
On September 11 of last year, Alshamrani allegedly posted a message which read: ‘The countdown has begun.’
Barr added that Alshamrani also visited the New York City memorial to the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks days before the shooting.
The attack brought fresh complications to US-Saudi relations at a time of heightened tensions between the United States and Iran, Saudi Arabia’s regional rival.
Police tape is pictured at the Pensacola Naval Air Station after Alshamrani opened fire in a classroom on December 6, killing three American sailors and wounding eight others
Fran Bitter, a volunteer with the Patriot Guard Riders of Georgia, salutes a group of sailors as they enter a funeral service for Walters at the Compassion Christian Church in Savannah, Georgia, on December 19, 2019
But according to Barr, Saudi Arabia provided ‘complete and total support’ to the American investigation of the incident.
The attorney general also announced that the United States is removing 21 Saudi military students from a training program and sending them back to Saudi Arabia following the investigation.
Fifteen of the 21 cadets had contact with child pornography and possessed jihadist or anti-American material, Barr said.
Of the 21 cadets, 17 had social media profiles containing jihadi or anti-American content.
None of the cadets are accused of having advanced knowledge of the shooting.
It was not immediately clear on what grounds the students were being removed from the program, though the official said they were not suspected of having played any role in the attack.
Officials have said Alshamrani hosted a party before the shooting, where he and others watched videos of mass shootings.
The gunman, who used a Glock 9 mm weapon that had been purchased legally in Florida, had also apparently taken to Twitter before the shooting to criticize US support of Israel and accuse America of being anti-Muslim, another US official said last month.
There are currently about 850 Saudi students in the United States for military training.
Saudi Arabia Defense Attache Major General Fawaz Al Fawaz, his Embassy staff and other officials arrive to meet with the Saudi students who remain restricted to the Naval Air Station Pensacola base by their Saudi commanding officer on December 9
Alshamrani was on the base as part of a US Navy training program designed to foster links with foreign allies.
He had started training in the US in 2017 and had been in the Pensacola area for the past 18 months, authorities said.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, said that Alshamrani ‘had a deep-seated hatred for the United States’.
‘For us to be bringing in these foreign nationals, you have to take precautions. Bringing in people from Saudi Arabia – we need to be on guard against that,’ the governor added.
Alshamrani was one of about 200 foreigners at the Pensacola base and thousands around the US who participate in military training, a program that US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said was ‘very important to our national security’.
The December shooting raised questions about how well international military students are screened before they attend training at American bases.
Some lawmakers, including a top Republican ally of President Donald Trump, have called for Saudi Arabia to be suspended from the American military training program.
Trump called for the program to be reviewed. But Sen Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said the program needed to be reevaluated after the attack.
A Saudi commanding officer had ordered all students from the country to remain at one location at the base after the attack.
National security adviser Robert O’Brien said in an interview on Fox News that the shooting ‘showed that there had been errors in the way that we vetted’ the students.
The actions being taken by the Justice Department and Defense Department to remove the Saudi students are to ‘protect our service men and women,’ he said.