Republican presidential candidate Ohio Gov. John Kasich said it’s “best” if policy decisions regarding Americans’ privacy are discussed in the privacy of the White House.
During the Republican presidential debate Thursday, Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly asked Kasich about his stance on encryption. Kelly explained that while encryption protects smartphones from hacking, it also protects the cell phones of terrorists from being accessed by law enforcement.
She asked:
Now the tech companies and a group of MIT scientists, smart guys, right, warn that if they create a way for the FBI to have a backdoor into our encrypted communications, then the bad guys will exploit it, too. And they say that this is going to cause more security problems than it would solve for everyday Americans. Are they wrong?
Kasich responded to Kelly’s question by claiming that issues of encryption and backdoor access are best discussed in the Situation Room of the White House:
Well, look, the Joint Terrorism Task Force needs resources and tools. And those are made up of the FBI, state and local law enforcement. And Megyn, it's best not to talk anymore about backdoors and encryption. It will get solved, but it needs to be solved in the Situation Room of the White House with the technology folks.
After Kelly told Kasich it’s a matter of “public testimony,” Kasich said it’s “best with some of these things not be said.”
Kasich then changed the topic to Ronald Reagan’s presidency and foreign policy.