WASHINGTON-Attorney General Janet Reno will decide by this Friday whether to pull the Federal Communications Commission into a digital wiretap controversy that kept the telecom industry and FBI officials busy last week in negotiations over a technical standard.
The telecom industry, represented by wireless and wireline carriers and equipment manufacturers, met here and in San Antonio last week to try to iron out differences delaying the implementation of the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act.
Reno called off plans to file a “deficiency petition” with the FCC on March 13 following a morning meeting with industry on March 6.
The attorney general, who was grilled by House appropriators two weeks ago over the CALEA impasse between industry and law enforcement, gave industry an extra week to develop a plan for projecting costs, technical feasibility and timelines associated with CALEA compliance.
Still in negotiation is the time industry should have to pull together the information sought by Reno. The industry wants 60 to 90 days. The FBI wants to give industry 60 days.
If Reno does not like what industry submits this week, she could file a deficiency petition with the FCC on March 20.
There is some feeling in industry that FCC involvement might actually work to its advantage by putting contested wiretap issues clearly in public view.
Steve Colgate, assistant U.S. attorney general for administration, is negotiating on behalf of Reno. Mike Warren is the FBI’s point man on CALEA, though FBI Director Louis Freeh is monitoring talks with the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association, the Personal Communications Industry Association, the Telecommunications Industry Association and the U.S. Telephone Association.
On a related front, the long-awaited final wiretap capacity notice was published last Thursday in the Federal Register.
The industry and the FBI are at odds over nine items on the so-called “punch list.” The industry maintains some features and functions desired by the FBI go beyond the scope of CALEA. Some privacy advocates agree.
The FBI counters that industry wants to keep down the cost and complexity of complying with CALEA.
In addition, the FBI is reluctant to change the Jan. 1, 1995, carrier reimbursement eligibility cutoff or the Oct. 25 CALEA compliance date.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.) is trying to round up sponsors for a new bill to push the CALEA compliance date out to Oct. 1, 2000, and to grandfather personal communications services licensees and others so they would be reimbursed for CALEA modifications to their networks.
Rep. Bill McCollum (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Judiciary subcommittee on crime, plans to introduce a CALEA bill in about two weeks. McCollum, according to spokeswoman Shannon Gravitte, will meet with Freeh this week to discuss the impending legislation.
