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The CIA, NSA and multiple other US intelligence agencies have been asked to examine a reported request from the UK government for Apple to implement a backdoor in their encryption.
Tulsi Gabbard, the US director of national intelligence (DNI), announced the measures in a letter to two US politicians who had raised concerns about the move.
Apple last week withdrew some of its secure storage features from the UK. It was reported previously that the UK government had asked the US tech giant to give it access to users’ protected data worldwide.
Both the current Labour government, the previous Tory administrations and campaigners say they want less rigorous encryption to protect children and prevent crime.
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The latest step in the row comes as Sir Keir Starmer heads to Washington DC to meet with President Donald Trump.
Sir Keir has made technological development – especially AI – central to his plans to grow the UK economy and will be hoping to build ties with Silicon Valley leaders among others.
It is not clear if the reported attempts to impose UK law on a US-based company will impact any talks with the president.
The UK government is said to have made the demand to Apple under the Investigatory Powers Act 2016, which is also known as the “Snooper’s Charter”.
The government does not disclose whether it has made orders under the act, and has not commented on the specifics with Apple.
Apple is also prevented from commenting on whether an order was made.
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Public outcry over apple security
In her letter, Ms Gabbard said she had “grave concern” about the UK or any other country “requiring Apple or any company to create a ‘backdoor’ that would allow access to Americans’ personal encrypted data”.
She added: “This would be a clear and egregious violation of Americans’ privacy and civil liberties, and open up a serious vulnerability for cyber exploitation by adversarial actors.”
Ms Gabbard – who is close to Mr Trump – said she was not made aware of the order by the UK.
She said she has requested the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), DIA (Defense Intelligence Agency), DHS (Department of Homeland Security), FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) and NSA (National Security Agency) all to provide her with “insights” about what is in the public domain.
DNI Tulsi Gabbard has criticised the reported UK actions. Pic: AP
US government lawyers have also been asked to give a legal opinion on the implications of the reported order on the bilateral Cloud Act agreement.
The DNI highlighted that the agreement prevents either state from issuing demands for the data of citizens or nationals of the other.
Ms Gabbard’s letter was in response to a letter from Democrat senator Ron Wyden and Republican representative Andy Biggs, sent almost two weeks ago.
This is before Apple pulled its Advanced Data Protection from the UK, but after reports of the request to the iPhone and Mac makers.
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The two politicians said: “These reported actions seriously threaten the privacy and security of both the American people and the US government.”
They urged Ms Gabbard to “reevaluate US-UK cybersecurity arrangements and programmes as well as US intelligence sharing with the UK” if the UK did not change tack.
The Home Office did not comment.
Politics
GPs ‘working as Uber drivers’ because they can’t find jobs as medics warn of ‘unprecedented crisis’
A lack of jobs is forcing GPs out of the NHS with some taking up work as Uber drivers to pay the bills, experts have told Sky News.
The “ridiculous” situation has been blamed on chronic underfunding and the rising costs of running a general practice – meaning there is not enough money to recruit.
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It comes at a time when demand for GP appointments is greater than ever, with medics fearing the situation will get worse once the rise in employers’ national insurance comes into effect in April, as GP surgeries are not exempt.
According to a new survey by the British Medical Association (BMA), one in five GPs in England are already planning a career change because they can’t find any or enough work.
The poll of 1,400 family doctors tallies with the findings of a survey by Dr Steve Taylor of 1,000 GPs, which found one third are either underemployed or out of work.
Dr Taylor, a Manchester-based GP of 30 years and a spokesperson for the Doctors Association, told Sky News he was aware of some newly qualified GPs working gig economy jobs like Uber drivers “as a fill in just to pay the bills”.
He said: “In simple terms practices haven’t had enough money to employ the new GPs that we are training, so there are doctors that are unemployed and a large proportion of GPs are under employed – so they are not working hours they’d want to work.”
He added that “four years ago that wouldn’t have been an issue”, with one applicant going for a salaried job at his practice back then – compared to 30 applicants competing for one job now.
Dr Taylor called the situation a “crisis” and said his “big worry” is that “will we end up with a two-tier system like dentistry”, with private providers sucking up out-of-work GPs.
‘Ridiculous GPs can’t find work’
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‘We may get to the stage of turning people away from A&E,’ said Royal Berkshire Hospital’s emergency department clinical lead.
The BMA’s survey said 47% of respondents were expecting to make changes to their career – with the most popular option being to take clinical jobs outside the NHS (43%).
Respondents also considered taking up GP opportunities abroad (40%) and leaving healthcare altogether (38%).
Dr Mark Steggles, chair of the BMA’s sessional GP committee, said: “At a time of immense pressure on the NHS, and patients waiting too long to be seen, it’s ridiculous that so many GPs can’t find work.
“These findings confirm our worst fears. Not only is the issue spreading through the profession, but it’s also leaving many wondering why they should bother staying in the NHS at all, further depriving patients of the vital care they need.”
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Wes Streeting says government’s top priority is security
The survey comes after a study by the Health Foundation found access to a GP is the public’s top NHS concern – posing a potential headache for the government as it prioritises bringing down hospital waiting lists in its plan to fix the health service.
The government said in December it would give GPs an extra £889m to slash red tape and spend more time with patients.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has sought to address the recruitment problem by expanding the Additional Roles Reimbursement Scheme (ARRS) – a £1.4bn funding pot introduced in 2019 to hire non-GP roles, such as dieticians and social prescribers, across Primary Care Networks (PCNS).
PCNS are groups of GP practices, and last summer Mr Streeting announced £82m boost to the scheme so it could be expanded to GPs, in response to unemployment concerns.
But experts said it is not a long-term solution as it only applies to 1,000 newly qualified GPs on fixed-term contracts – making the roles hard to fill. The job also requires working across as many as 15 practices within one PCN, often at lower salaries as the reimbursement rate is at the bottom end of the GP pay scale.
The BMA said money for extra staff should go directly to GP practices and the amount should be increased, warning of a “mass exodus” if nothing is done.
Mr Steggles said there is a “real risk” of a huge increase of unemployment rates in August, when 4,000 new GP trainees will qualify.
The rise in employer NI could also exacerbate the situation, said Shropshire GP Jessica Harvey, who added practices are already being “squeezed” by the cost of living with no spare cash to recruit.
“It’s an unprecedented crisis,” she said. “There’s not enough GPs, we can’t afford more doctors, practices are closing, patients are suffering from chronic underfunding and to have NI placed on top of that is causing an incredible amount of unnecessary stress.”
A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “This government inherited a ludicrous situation where patients can’t get a GP, yet qualified GPs couldn’t get a job.
“We acted immediately to cut red tape and have already proposed the biggest boost to GP funding in years – an extra £889m.
“We are committed to recruiting an extra 1,000 GPs as promised.”
Income taxes will have to rise in order to plug Britain’s financial blackhole and allow for reforms, the former Bank of England governor has told Sky News.
Lord Mervyn King told Sophy Ridge’s Politics Hub programme we should all recognise “the very difficult position” that Chancellor Rachel Reeves has “inherited”, as he pointed to slow growth, a high budget deficit, large national debt and interest rates rising.
But he suggested rather than employers’ national insurance contributions, employees’ income tax is what should have been hiked when Ms Reeves announced her budget in October.
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Lord King said increasing taxes would be needed in order to accommodate both a rise in defence spending and public services reform, adding: “The obvious tax to raise is the basic rate of income tax, we will all contribute to it.”
Following the budget, the chancellor received backlash after announcing employers’ national insurance contributions would be increased.
“I think it would have been better to have said in the budget, ‘look, the previous government was irresponsible in cutting employees’ national insurance contributions, but let’s be frank, we were pretty irresponsible in saying we wouldn’t reverse it’,” Lord King said.
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Lord King nonetheless thinks it is still possible for the government to say to people “maybe we said some silly things before the election” but “this is the situation Britain finds itself in, this is what we have to do over the next four to five years”.
He says the public wants politicians to be “honest”, even if that means raising taxes.
“But in the long run, to raise enough money, I think we will have to raise the basic rate of income tax. And I see no harm in doing that.”
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