WASHINGTON-Starting the week united but ending it divided, President Clinton and a bipartisan congressional group struggled to agree on an anti-terrorism bill to give law enforcement expanded wiretap authority and other tools to fight domestic and international crime.
While there was an outside possibility for passing a bill before Congress broke for its August recess, some lawmakers suggested taking up the matter upon returning after Labor Day. White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta led the negotiations for the administration while Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) headed up the congressional task force.
Clinton signed anti-terrorism legislation in April but a coalition of conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats stripped out several provisions, including so-called roving wiretaps that save law enforcement officials the time and trouble of having to get a separate court order for a wiretap every time a suspect moves from one location to another or even from a wireline phone to a wireless phone.
As such, the president offered Congress a wish list of nine items, including roving wiretap authority and encryption export restrictions, for inclusion in the new anti-terrorism bill. But the administration and congressional leaders, after reaching an agreement in principle by mid-week, got bogged down in debate over privacy issues and chemical markers-called taggants-that the FBI and White House want to use to identify manufacturers of explosives.
Yet, the recent spate of fatal incidents including the Olympic Park blast, the TWA Flight 800 explosion and the Saudi Arabia bombing has raised the visibility of digital telephony wiretap funding issue while reviving the debate on balancing national security and constitutional privacy.
Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Senate Commerce appropriations subcommittee, attached an anti-terrorism package to spending legislation that follows the House’s lead by creating a fund into which law enforcement and intelligence agencies would contribute unused, year-end monies to reimburse wireless and wireline carriers that modify their networks in compliance with the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
“This proposal is essentially developed on the basis that we need a comprehensive approach,” said Gregg.
Gregg said there weren’t enough funds for direct CALEA funding, but promised the FBI would receive the $100 million sought by President Clinton in fiscal 1997.
CALEA, also called the digital telephony bill, is designed to give law enforcement the ability to conduct electronic surveillance on advanced telecommunications networks. Congress authorized $500 million for fiscal years 1995 to 1998 to implement the bill, but it has not received any funding to date.
Under the new law, wireless and wireline carriers have to adhere to wiretap capability requirements by Oct. 25, 1998. But carriers do not have to expand wiretap capacity to FBI specifications if CALEA appropriations are not available.
The FBI prefers direct appropriations and objects to CALEA implementation and reporting requirements that the House adopted to appease Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.), a sharp critic of federal law enforcement.
“As the main opponent who fought against including roving wiretaps and the tagging of explosives in the original terrorism bill,” said Barr, “I am here*…*to say `knee-jerk’ reactions to tragedies like the Olympic bombing are the wrong way to do legislation. The federal government already has enormous wiretap power, including an ability to conduct `roving’ wiretaps.”
While the wireless telecommunications industry has been frustrated in dealing with the CALEA implementation, it still wants the bill funded so carriers can be refunded for making system changes.
