Today's Headlines and Commentary

Headlines continue to be dominated by the battle between the FBI and Apple taking place in the Central District of California. If you’re just catching up, here’s what’s happening: a magistrate judge in the CDCA ordered Apple on Tuesday to comply with a federal warrant and help the FBI access data on the phone of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the assailants in the San Bernardino attack that killed 14 people. That attack was inspired by the Islamic State. Yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook released a scathing letter, vowing to fight the judicial order and claiming that the company will not “build a backdoor to the iPhone.” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest objected to that characterization however, arguing that the government only wants help in unlocking one iPhone, and is not asking Apple “to create a new back door to...their products.”

Today, the New York Times carries the backstory to the drama, noting that for months federal prosecutors and Apple’s attorneys have “held closely guarded discussions” on the case, but when talks collapsed, a federal magistrate judge “ordered Apple to bypass security functions on the phone.” In the Washington Post, Ellen Nakashima explains “why Apple is in a historic fight with the government over one iPhone,” pointing out that Cook’s letter “verged on the apocalyptic,” but that the showdown has “been years in the making.” As the battle went into overdrive on Wednesday, the EEF, ACLU, and Amnesty International all endorsed Apple’s position. Their statements are available at the Verge.

Writing in the Daily Beast, Shane Harris confirms that Apple has unlocked iPhones for the federal government on 70 other occasions, and suggests that the company is only refusing to play ball now because it might “tarnish the Apple brand.” Elsewhere, Quartz reports that while Apple has been “bordering on defiant” in the United States, the company “appears to take a different tack in dealing with data security demands from China,” where in January 2015, the state-run People’s Daily claimed that “Apple had agreed to security checks by the Chinese government.” Apple considers China a key growth market.

In Lawfare, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes walk through the legal issues at play in the dispute, and implore readers to remember: “Apple is selling you a phone, not civil liberties.” Nick Weaver got in on the Apple action too, suggesting that the court order isn’t “a slippery slope, but a jump off the cliff,” as the precedent the order creates would be “catastrophic.” Herb Lin highlighted Apple’s response, calling the company’s definition of a backdoor “unreasonable,” but also noting he would prefer for legislative clarification on the issue, instead of letting a magistrate judge determine what is and isn’t reasonable. For more on why that hasn’t happened, see Susan and Ben’s piece, mentioned earlier.

Pivoting to Syria: According to the New York Times, “more than 100 trucks laden with emergency food and medicine began deliveries on Wednesday to tens of thousands of desperate Syrians in five locations besieged for months by the civil war.” By the end of Wednesday, the towns of Madaya, Zabadani, Fouaa, Kfarya, and the Damascus suburb of Moadamiyeh had all received some aid, although the convoys will continue to arrive throughout Thursday. Parties to the conflict in Syria are scheduled to meet today in Geneva to discuss expanded aid deliveries to hundreds of thousands of people in 15 other besieged towns. The Times has more.

Reuters reports that an Iraqi court has sentenced 40 members of the Islamic State to death for their involvement in the mass murder of 1,700 of Iraqi soldiers in 2014. Seven defendants were acquitted for a lack of evidence. Even so, Amnesty International has denounced the trial as “fundamentally flawed.”

A car bomb ripped through a military convoy in the administrative heart of Ankara yesterday, killing at least 28 people and wounding more than 60 others. According to the New York Times, the attack highlights once again “the country’s vulnerability to the Syrian war and revitalized Kurdish insurgency.” While no group has claimed responsibility for the attack, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu blamed a member of the Syrian Kurdish YPG, which the United States has supported in its battle against the Islamic State. Turkey considers the YPG a terrorist organization deeply linked with the PKK. Reuters notes that “within hours, Turkish warplanes bombed bases in northern Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).” Turkey fears that Kurdish advances on the Iraqi and Syrian sides of the border will encourage separatists groups at home and has in recent weeks shelled YPG positions in Syria. Both the YPG and the PKK have denied involvement.

Roy Gutman explains Turkish anxieties, and how both the United States and Russia are encouraging them, over in Foreign Policy.

According to Russian state media, Moscow will deliver the first S-300 air defense system to Iran today. A deal to deliver the sophisticated air defense system was inked last year following the signing of the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Is Mokhtar Belmokhtar dead? And will we ever know the answer? Those two questions, as Missy Ryan of the Washington Post reports, still plague officials at Joint Special Operations Command, who were once sure they had killed the Algerian militant in June of last year. Eight months later, however, “U.S. military and intelligence agencies remain unsure whether Belmokhtar was indeed killed.” Ryan notes that this “uncertainty highlights the sometimes limited intelligence surrounding the strikes that have becomes a hallmark” of the Obama administration response to terrorism in countries where the U.S. has a limited military presence.

The New York Times reports today that “Afghan security forces, possibly accompanied by NATO advisers, raided a hospital south of Kabul and abducted and then killed at least three men suspected of being insurgents.” The raid, which took place in the Day Mirdad district of Wardak Province and targeted a hospital run by the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, was verified by hospital officials and local residents. Initial reports suggest that between three and five people were killed. Colonel Michael T. Lawhorn, a spokesman for the American-led NATO coalition denied involvement, saying that “at this point, we have no reports of any coalition operations near a hospital.”

Elsewhere, the Times reports that according to a new report from Human Rights Watch, the Taliban used child soldiers in battle when it overran Kunduz last year. The group documented at least 13 cases of children recruited to fight, while the United Nations has documented “that children as young as 10 participated in the fighting.”

The Times’s coverage continues with a report from Azam Ahmed on the steps the Taliban has taken to penetrate “every stage of Afghan opium chain,” operating at times as a jihadist insurgency and at others as an international drug cartel.

On Saturday, al Shabaab claimed responsibility for the bomb that ripped a hole in the cabin of a Daallo Airlines flight on February 2nd. The editorial board of the Wall Street Journal notes that amidst the chaos in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen, the growing threat of jihadists groups throughout Africa has been neglected.

Boko Haram, of course, is a central player in what the Journal calls “Africa’s terror crescent." Buzzfeed New correspondent Monica Mark shares the harrowing story of how the militant group turns its captives into suicide bombers, grooming young women through psychological abuse and gifts to kill for the very gunman that kidnapped them.

Reuters writes that the Kenyan government, which has faced its share of al Shabaab attacks, plans to build a new prison to house “violent and extremist offenders.” The new prison would be built in order to keep radical elements from influencing other prisoners, according to President Uhuru Kenyatta. Kenyatta did not provide a timeline for the prison’s construction.

Breaking news today from the White House as President Barack Obama announced that he will make a historic trip to Cuba next month, marking the first presidential visit to the island nation in almost 90 years. The president plans to meet with Cuban President Raul Castro, entrepreneurs, and “Cubans from different walks of life” while he is in the country.

Military Commissions Judge James Pohl yesterday refused to allow accused 9/11 conspirator Walid bin Attash to fire his defense counsel and also refused to allow his defender Cheryl Bormann to quit the case. After the ruling, Bin Attash announced that he would boycott the remaining proceedings and would no longer meet with Ms. Bormann. The Miami Herald has more on the proceedings at Guantanamo Bay.

Parting Shot: Want to win that Scalia replacement debate with your friends this weekend? The kind folks at Volokh Conspiracy provide the ammunition, with “a (spotty) history of confirming court nominees” in election years.

ICYMI: Yesterday, on Lawfare

Bobby alerted us to the news of the ongoing drama between the FBI and Apple, noting that the encryption debate has now moved from Congress to the courtroom, and offered his analysis of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s statement regarding the magistrate judge’s order.

Herb Lin also highlighted Apple’s response, calling Apple’s definition of a backdoor “unreasonable,” but also noting he would prefer for legislative clarification on the issue and not just what a magistrate judge determines to be reasonable.

Nick Weaver jumped in on the Apple action too, suggesting that the court order isn’t “a slippery slope, but a jump off the cliff.”

Cody brought our attention to a newly released NSA Inspector General report that suggests the government receives far less data from Section 702 collection than critics originally suspected.

Peter Margulies wrote on the clash in U.S. and E.U. approaches to terrorist sanctions.

In light of the New York Times’s story on “Nitro Zeus,” Herb Lin asked “what do we do in the aftermath of a planned cyberattack that is revealed?”

Finally, Steve Vladeck offered “ a more circumspect take on Justice Scalia and national security.”

Email the Roundup Team noteworthy law and security-related articles to include, and follow us on Twitter and Facebook for additional commentary on these issues. Sign up to receive Lawfare in your inbox. Visit our Events Calendar to learn about upcoming national security events, and check out relevant job openings on our Job Board.