WASHINGTON-The FBI told House Commerce appropriations subcommittee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) two additional weeks are needed before it can submit a digital wiretap plan to Congress. The Justice Department sought the extension in a Dec. 31 letter to Rogers.
The FBI missed the Jan. 5 deadline for providing the plan to Rogers, who last year refused to fund the 1994 digital wiretap bill-known officially as the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act-after the FBI and industry failed to settle on CALEA technical standards.
The FBI and the wireless industry blame each other for delays in implementing CALEA.
Under the law, new personal communications services carriers and cellular operators that either began operations or converted to digital technology after Jan. 1, 1995, cannot be reimbursed for making network modifications required by CALEA. The wireless industry wants that date pushed back.
1998 is a crucial year in the CALEA debate. Wireless carriers not in compliance by Oct. 25 are subject to $10,000-a-day fines.
