Ohio Gov. John Kasich would rather not talk about encryption, he said at the Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News on Thursday evening.
“It’s best not to talk any more about backdoors and encryption,” Kasich said. “It will get solved, but it needs to get solved in the situation room of the White House.”
Fox News host Megyn Kelly, one of three moderators at the debate, attempted to interject by saying that much of what has been stated about encryption by intelligence officials has been on the record. Kasich again declined to add anything, saying, “I just have to tell you it’s best that some of these things not be said.”
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Kasich went on to talk about being in the United States House of Representatives when the Berlin Wall came down in 1989, and related that back to how he would build a coalition to fight the Islamic State in the modern era.
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It is the fourth time in recent memory that the moderators of presidential debates have attempted to broach the subject with candidates, though the attempt met with about as much success as past efforts. Democratic candidates Martin O’Malley and Hillary Clinton seemed to suggest that privacy should be paramount before expressing mild support for weakening encryption, while Jeb Bush called for a “dialogue” on the matter and said that technology companies “understand” the situation.
