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Wednesday, March 28, 2018

IG finds communications failures in FBI handling of San Bernardino shooter’s phone

The widespread encryption versus law enforcement debate started by the FBI’s attempts to unlock the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, a shooter in the deadly December 2015 attack in San Bernardino, California, may never have occurred if the FBI had been better at communicating with its technology staff.

A March 27, 2018, Department of Justice Office of Inspector General report found that then-Director James Comey had reason to believe in his Feb. 9, 2016, and March 1, 2016,congressional testimonies that the FBI had no other way to access potentially critical information held on the shooter’s phone than to legally require the phone’s developer, Apple, to help them break into it.

However, the report also found the FBI had insufficiently communicated with members of the FBI Operational Technology Division’s (OTD) Remote Operations Unit (ROU), which ultimately provided the third-party vendor that had unlocked the phone. This lack of communication resulted in a Feb. 16 court order for Apple’s assistance occurring prior to the FBI’s exploration of all other options.

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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

FBI fails again and again, time to shut it down. CIA has a better track record of getting answers, let them operate inside the USA.

Anonymous said...

Could the FBI find their own butt in the dark?! Or are they too busy trying to find something, anything on our President to do their JOB?

Anonymous said...

FBI was monitoring the Boston bombers, and failed to act, FBI was called about lots of guns being bought by the Las Vegas shooter, and failed to act, FBI was investigating one of the biggest criminals in this country, and failed to indite her, FBI was called several times about a kid posting online he was going to kill fellow students, and FBI failed to act.

Their initials must stand for Failing Bunch of Idiots.

Anonymous said...

Moot point.

The San Bernadino "shooter" was an intelligence asset.
Fake event.
Scripted in Langley