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In
a written response to members of Congress, Gabbard said this
week that such a demand would violate Americans' rights and
raise concerns about a foreign government pressuring a
U.S.-based technology company.
“This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’
privacy and civil liberties,” Gabbard told Sen. Ron Wyden,
D-Ore., and Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who had written to express
their worries.
Apple announced last week that it would stop offering an
advanced data security option for British users. In a secret
order, British security officials demanded that the U.S. tech
giant create so-called backdoor access so that they could view
fully encrypted material, The Washington Post reported this
month, citing anonymous sources.
Advanced Data Protection, which Apple started rolling out at the
end of 2022, is an opt-in feature that protects iCloud files,
photos, notes and other data with end-to-end encryption when
they’re stored in the cloud.
Gabbard has asked the heads of the CIA and other U.S.
intelligence agencies to study the U.K. demand and said she will
discuss it with her British counterparts. She noted that
existing agreements between the two nations prohibit either
country from demanding cloud data about citizens or residents of
the other.
The criticism of the demands made to Apple come amid concerns
that President Donald Trump could test the intelligence sharing
relationships between the U.S. and its allies. British
authorities have declined to comment on the reported order.
Gabbard, a military veteran and former Democratic congresswoman
from Hawaii, alarmed many national security experts on both
sides of the Atlantic when Trump tapped her to coordinate
America's intelligence operations. In the past, she has
criticized government surveillance programs and made sympathetic
comments about government leaker Edward Snowden and Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
In her letter to the lawmakers, Gabbard said she hoped
Washington and London could find a way to balance security and
civil rights.
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