WASHINGTON-The ability of law enforcement to tap into telephone calls made over digital networks-either wired or wireless-is of such national security importance that the Department of Defense will reimburse the Department of Justice $120 million if President Clinton’s fiscal year 2001 budget outline is followed.
“Just as society as a whole has become dependent on highly sophisticated technology, so too must law enforcement. The FY 2001 budget includes an additional $358 million for federal information resources management software and hardware, wiretapping systems, cryptology equipment, DNA collection efforts and on-going research and development projects, and data driven crime control strategies … The budget also increases support for upgrades in federal wireless communications systems, including improved efficiency in the use of federal spectrum assigned to law enforcement,” said a Justice Department fact sheet.
The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 authorized $500 million to reimburse carriers for upgrades made to their networks in order to make digital wiretapping possible. To date, about $100 million has been appropriated but no money has been spent.
The president’s budget requests an increase of $105 million for CALEA funding, not including the Defense Department reimbursement to DOJ.
It is unclear why the president is asking for DOD to be appropriated money to be given to DOJ, but one possible reason could be that two different appropriations subcommittee chairmen control the purse strings for the two agencies. Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House commerce, justice, state and judiciary Appropriations subcommittee, has said in the past that he will not allow more than the authorized $500 million to be used for reimbursements.
The telecommunications industry does not believe $500 million will be sufficient. It does not appear that the DOD reimbursement would be above and beyond the $500 million, but the fund could increase if Congress allows DOJ to take money from other accounts and move it into the Telecommunications Carrier Compliance Fund, which is used for CALEA reimbursements. In any event, the telecom industry expects the CALEA fund to be insufficient.
“We have estimated the cost to our companies is $2 billion, and only $500 million has been authorized. It looks like there is just not going to be enough money for our companies to be reimbursed to meet the deadline in June,” said Michelle Tober, spokeswoman for the United States Telecom Association.
Another problem is the slowness of the reimbursement process. Almost a year ago, DOJ announced it had signed a letter of intent with Nortel Networks to buy CALEA-compliant software and give it to carriers. It also said it was negotiating with other manufacturers and carriers, but according to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, DOJ has yet to sign a buy-out agreement.
“I think there is some real concern that the FBI has not signed any platform buy-out agreements. I understand that there are agreements on their plate that have been offered up by the manufacturers, [but] the FBI has not taken advantage of those,” said Steven K. Berry, CTIA senior vice president for congressional affairs.
Both Berry and Tober are concerned about the fast-approaching June deadline. Carriers have until this date to upgrade their networks to meet an industry interim standard.
“It is troubling that they [DOJ] may be desirous of pushing us up against the deadlines again and creating some concerns in the manufacturer and carrier community that we won’t be able to meet the deadlines under any circumstances,” Berry said.
Additional capabilities-approved by the Federal Communications Commission-will need to be deployed by Sept. 20, 2001.
The telecommunications industry and privacy groups filed a suit last year claiming that these additional standards were contrary to law.
The FCC in August rejected privacy and industry concerns when it approved six of nine additional capabilities to industry interim technical standards implementing CALEA. The decision largely affirmed an October 1998 notice of proposed rule making.
The FCC’s action in this area was triggered when the industry, privacy groups and law enforcement could not agree on what capabilities were within the scope of CALEA. The industry believed the interim standard was sufficient, while law enforcement believed it was not enough, and privacy groups believed it went too far.
