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Apple CEO Tim Cook issued a strongly worded letter this week explaining why he is appealing a court order to unlock and access data from an iPhone that belonged to Syed Farook who, along with his wife, killed 14 people and injured nearly two dozen at a social service agency in San Bernardino, California last year. 

Apple was issued an order by a California magistrate judge to help FBI investigators unlock the iPhone, which would mean Apple would have to create a new software tool to override specific security protections built to protect customer data; essentially creating a backdoor to obtain the information.  It’s the latest chapter in a long battle between the Justice Department and Silicon Valley.

Here to weigh in on Apple’s privacy dilemma is Susan Hennessey, a former attorney for the National Security Agency and a fellow at the Brookings Institution.