FBI cracks iPhone encryption, finds al Qaeda links to 2019 Florida naval base shooter
The decryption heads off a confrontation between Apple and the Justice Department
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The FBI found links between al Qaeda and the Saudi terrorist who killed three US sailors in Florida after cracking the military trainee's iPhones, attorney general William Barr said.
The direct link between Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21, and al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) operative Abdullah al-Maliki led to a counter-terrorism operation in Yemen that left the group "seriously degraded".
While Mr Barr would not confirm whether the operation was an airstrike, he said he was "very pleased with the results".
FBI Director Christopher Wray said that evidence from the iPhones showed that Alshamrani was radicalised as far back as 2015, and he expressed to join the Saudi Air Force to carry out what he called a "special operation".
Alshamrani was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force on the base as part of a US Navy training program when he killed three and wounded eight others in December last year.
He was killed following the 15-minute shooting spree, in which he shot at a photo of Donald Trump and made statements critical of American soldiers overseas.
"We now know that Alshamrani continued to associate with AQAP even while living in Texas and in Florida; and that in the months before the attack, while he was here among us, he talked with AQAP about his plans and tactics--taking advantage of the information he acquired here, to assess how many people he could try to kill," Mr Wray said.
"We have more to learn. But we know enough now to see Alshamrani for what he was--a determined AQAP terrorist, who spent years preparing to attack us."
Mr Wray said Alshamrani was meticulous in his planning, which included:
- Making pocket-cam videos as he cased his classroom building.
- Wrote a final will, purporting to explain himself, and saved in his phone. It was the same will the AQAP released two months later when they initially claimed responsibility.
- He coordinated with AQAP about planning and tactics
- He was helping the organisation make the most it could out of the murders.
- He continued to confer with his AQAP associates up until the night before the shootings
In February, the Islamist militant group AQAP claimed responsibility for the attack but the access to the iPhones provided the first direct evidence of the connection.
The decryption heads off a confrontation between Apple and the Justice Department, which had been critical of the company for not comprising its customers' privacy in the interests of national security.
It was not clarified how the FBI cracked Apple's encryption security, but they said the technique was a limited application and was not a fix for the "broader Apple problem".
Mr Barr said it was clear that the phones contained important information as Alshamrani disengaged from the gunfight long enough to fire a bullet into one of the phones.
"We asked Apple for assistance, and the president asked Apple for assistance, unfortunately, Apple would not help us unlock the phones," Mr Barr said.
"Apple had deliberately designed them so that only the user, in this case, the terrorist, could gain access to their contents."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments