Thread by @TheJusticeDept

Attorney General William P. Barr and FBI Director Christopher Wray Announce Significant Developments in the Investigation of the Naval Air Station Pensacola Shooting justice.gov/opa/pr/attorne…

AG Barr: We’re here to discuss significant developments in the FBI’s investigation of the December 6 shooting at the Pensacola Naval Air Station that killed 3 U.S. sailors and wounded 8 other Americans.

AG Barr: Four months ago I announced that the shooting was an act of terrorism. I also publicly asked Apple to help us access the locked contents of the two iPhones belonging to the terrorist who was killed at the time of his attack.

AG Barr: It was clear at the time that the phones were likely to contain very important information… Within one day of the shootings the FBI sought & obtained court orders supported by probable cause authorizing the Bureau to search the contents of both phones.

AG Barr: We asked Apple for assistance and the President asked Apple for assistance. Unfortunately, Apple would not help us unlock the phones. Apple had deliberately designed them so that only the user—in this case, the terrorist—could gain access to their contents.

AG Barr: While [the FBI’s] hard work has led to an important breakthrough in this case… I must also express great disappointment that it took over 4 months & large sums of taxpayer dollars to obtain evidence that should be easily & quickly accessible with a court order.

AG Barr: Under our nation’s long-established constitutional principles, where a court authorizes a search for evidence of a crime, an individual’s privacy interests must yield to the broader public interest.

AG Barr: There is no reason why companies like Apple cannot design their consumer products and apps to allow for court-authorized access by law enforcement while maintaining very high standards of data security.

AG Barr: Striking this balance should not be left to corporate boardrooms. It is a decision that must be made by the American people through their representatives. Public safety & privacy are not mutually exclusive.

AG Barr: We are confident that technology companies are capable of building secure products that protect user information and at the same time allow for law enforcement access when permitted by a judge, as Apple had done willingly for many years and others are still doing today.

AG Barr: Many of the technology companies that advocate most loudly for warrant-proof encryption in the name of privacy rights are, at the same time, willing to accommodate authoritarian regimes when it serves their business interests.

AG Barr: For example, it has been widely reported that Apple has worked with both the Communist Party of China and the Russian regime to relocate data centers to enable bulk surveillance by those governments.

AG Barr: Apple also has reportedly disabled features and applications on iPhones used by pro-democracy advocates, thereby facilitating censorship and oppression.

AG Barr: If technology companies like Apple are willing to oblige the demands of authoritarian regimes, they certainly have no excuse for failing to cooperate with rule-of-law nations that respect civil liberties and privacy rights and have judicial safeguards.

AG Barr: The developments in this case demonstrate the need for a legislative solution… We cannot do our jobs when companies put the ability to defeat court-authorized searches in the hands of terrorists and predatory criminals.

AG Barr: When combatting threats to our homeland, we need American tech leaders to work with us, not against us… For the safety and security of our citizens, we cannot afford to wait any longer.

Read Attorney General Barr’s full remarks here: justice.gov/opa/speech/att…