February 2016

The Justice Department calculated that it held a winning hand — the passcode-locked Apple iPhone of a terrorist — when it went to a federal court. Not only did the agency want Apple to build special software to help the FBI crack open the phone, but the government also knew the order would be made public. After a mass killing that provoked national outrage, the government hoped to win support far outside the courtroom in its bid to gain access to encrypted phones in criminal and terrorism cases. “They picked this case to increase the chances of getting public opinion on their side,” said a former federal prosecutor. Now, a single iPhone has reignited a broad debate about government surveillance and the needs of law enforcement vs. the need for privacy. The showdown escalated with the Justice Department accusing Apple of putting its “brand marketing” ahead of the law.

The stakes have soared, well beyond the fate of any particular iPhone. “How can anyone back down now?” asked Mike McNerney, a former cybersecurity adviser to the secretary of defense and now a Truman National Security Project fellow. “You can’t solve [this case] when it’s the director of the FBI vs. the CEO of Apple.”