Congressman Darrell Issa, writing an op-ed piece for Wired:

Just last year, the federal government suffered numerous embarrassing cyber attacks: The Office of Personnel Management’s security breach resulted in the theft of 22 million Americans’ information, including fingerprints, Social Security numbers, addresses, employment history, and financial records. And the Internal Revenue Service’s hack left as many as 334,000 taxpayer accounts compromised‑though just this week, the IRS revised that number to over 700,000 accounts, more than twice their original estimates.

And:

Forcing Apple to manufacture new security vulnerabilities into its phones’ operating system in order to give the government access paves the way for these kinds of breaches to become all the more common. But even more alarming are the implications this decision would have for the online security of Americans for generations.

If the government is successful in forcing Apple to help decrypt the phone in this case, it would create a dangerous precedent that would allow the government to continue coming back again and again to decrypt all kinds of devices in all kinds of circumstances, far beyond national security.

And:

Law enforcement are not ill-intentioned in their attempts to gain access to the information inside this particular phone. In Apple CEO Tim Cook’s open letter, he writes, “We have great respect for the professionals at the FBI and we believe their intentions are good.”

I agree.

Whether tech companies like Apple can be forced to undermine their own products and whether they will have to leave a backdoor open for government—and whoever else may find it—in their products is currently a question left to the courts. But as Congress begins contemplating revisions to the 1789 statue upon which this court order is built, lawmakers must be sure to protect citizens’ right to privacy and preserve the integrity of the online security protocols that help keep us all safe.

Many have painted this as a partisan issue. Note that Congressman Issa is a Republican.