The FBI investigation into the failed July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump has revived the argument over whether Big Tech firms should provide law enforcement with a backdoor method to break their own “unbreakable” encryption.
Weeks before the attempt on Trump’s life, the Secret Service received intelligence warning of an Iranian plot to kill the former president, according to federal law enforcement officials.
But while experts are skeptical of any connection between the 20-year-old would-be assassin Thomas Matthew Crooks and Iran, they haven’t been able to access some of his communications 18 days later.
So it remains unclear who he was talking to, if anyone, and what topics would have been discussed.
“I think we’ve experienced a range of returns because some of the applications that he was using online were encrypted in nature,” FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said during a Senate hearing Tuesday under questioning from South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham.
The FBI has gained access to some of his emails, he said, but some of his encrypted communications remained undecipherable Tuesday.
“If he were talking to some foreign power, and I don’t think any foreign power would hire this guy, by the way, so I’m not overly worried, but if this was some great plot by the Iranians, how do we solve this?” Graham asked.
“Senator, you know, as we’ve been saying, we need a solution that provides lawful access,” Abbate said.
The FBI and other law enforcement agencies have been seeking – unsuccessfully – backdoor access to encrypted data for years. And while lawmakers have been reluctant to demand it facing privacy and due process concerns,
apps that facilitate encrypted communications have become popular not only with private individuals, but also terrorist groups, criminal cartels, drug traffickers and other criminals. They are easy to obtain on Apple and Android phones – and often free to use.
Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, climbed on top of a roof less than 150 yards from Trump during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania on July 13. Armed with an AR-15 rifle, he tried to kill the former president, barely missing his head but grazing his ear, killing one rally attendee and critically wounding two others.
The shocking security failure spawned a number of investigations into both lapses in event security and the gunman’s motivations. The attack came amid a heightened threat from Iran.
