F.B.I. personnel apparently believed that by resetting the iCloud password, they could get access to information stored on the iPhone. Instead, the change had the opposite effect — locking them out and eliminating other means of getting in.
Apparently the FBI is too stupid to use google to look for an answer before they went ahead and reset the password. They might have also considered mocking up the locked phone on a different iPhone and trying to access that one first as a test. How can they be so freaking incompetent!
I bet if the FBI had simply called Apple, they would have gotten good advice.
Very well said, bears repeating. You don't put astronauts and valuables on untested rockets that might go bang. You need to test on mockups to see if it works before betting all your marbles.