Tom Ridge: Apple, Government Can Work Together to Unlock iPhone

Tom Ridge, the first Homeland Security secretary, thinks Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and the government can work together to unlock the iPhone used by one of the San Bernardino shooters.

“I have great respect for Mr. Cook,” Ridge said. “But, I also would like him to put on his hat of corporate responsibility and social responsibility and I’d like everybody on both sides to tone down the rhetoric and say to each other, there’s a way we can do this, technologically there’s a way we can do this. I don’t think the FBI is asking him to turn over the code or asking their software engineers to open up all phones under all circumstances at all times.”

Ridge, who also served as the governor of Pennsylvania, said he’s talked to many people in the tech space who believe Apple should do it, but must be willing to. He told FOX Business Network’s Neil Cavuto what he would tell the Apple CEO.

"I would say to Mr. Cook the following: If the incident had occurred at an Apple facility and there was reason to believe that another incident would occur at an Apple facility, and the government had information that you wanted to protect your employees, would you do whatever you could to secure that information in a way protecting both privacy [and security]… of course he would do it.”

Ridge added: “There’s no doubt in my mind that they could gain access and extract the info needed without divulging how they did it, and what modifications they made to the technology.”