When Britain asked Apple to open an encryption backdoor, the U.S. director of national intelligence was visibly stunned and said lawyers and other agencies were working on the case. To avoid complying with the UK government's legally binding but completely secret demands, Apple has turned off certain end-to-end encryption features in the country. Britain's unprecedented request for spies to access all users' encrypted data sparked global controversy, including a bipartisan response in the United States.
Senator Ron Wyden of the Senate Intelligence Committee and Senator Andy Biggs of the House Judiciary Committee sent a letter to the new Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard regarding this matter. Gabbard has now written back, saying the U.S. was not informed of the secret order and expressing "grave concerns" about Britain's request for U.S. citizen data.
In her full reply to senators, Gabbard noted that the UK was able to force Apple not to disclose the existence of the order. She said she learned of the request through media reports and was currently preparing to negotiate with the British government.
Specifically, she has hired a senior intelligence community official to conduct an investigation with assistance from agencies including the FBI, National Security Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, Department of Homeland Security and the Central Intelligence Agency. Gabbard also instructed lawyers to examine the impact of the UK's actions in the context of the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement between the UK and the US.
"Upon preliminary review of the bilateral CLOUD Act agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom does not have the authority to request data from U.S. citizens, nationals, or lawful permanent residents ('U.S. persons') or to request data from persons located in the United States," Gabbard said in her response.
"Our intelligence relationships with our foreign partners are critical to our national security," she continued. "However, as Director of National Intelligence, my obligations include protecting our nation's security and the rights of the American people under the U.S. Constitution."
The UK is demanding the installation of a spying backdoor in an iPhone's iOS system, which would allow it to access data from the US and anywhere in the world, as well as British citizens. It now appears that this may well have been a breach of the UK-US agreement.
However, Apple's decision to turn off encryption in the UK was likely a long-standing goal of the country's government. It can gain access to all British citizens it wants, but not to US citizens.
However, forcing Apple to disable encryption means the security and privacy of all users with ties to the UK would be weakened. Therefore, US users with end-to-end encryption still intact could still potentially be accessed by malicious actors through any UK contacts.
While Director Gabbard did not directly address this possibility, his final comments about the importance of intelligence relationships will be interpreted as a threat. The United States is likely to reduce or cease intelligence data sharing with the United Kingdom.
Apple did not comment on the chief's response, but the company is legally unable to do so. The company is undoubtedly appealing the request in the UK, but until the secretive appeals process is completed, Apple will either comply with the request or continue to turn off end-to-end encryption.