[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 20 (Wednesday, March 4, 1998)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E294-E295]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                CALEA IMPLEMENTATION AMENDMENTS OF 1998

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. BOB BARR

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 4, 1998

  Mr. BARR. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing a bill to amend and 
clarify portions of the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement 
Act (CALEA), enacted into law on October 25, 1994 (PL 103-414). The 
implementation of this legislation--intended by Congress to preserve 
the status quo of law enforcement's electronic surveillance authority 
and to define the telecommunications industry's duty to assist law 
enforcement in the digital age--is seriously behind schedule. CALEA's 
effective date is October 25, 1998 and the assistance capability and 
capacity requirements set forth in the law will not be available.
  The purpose of CALEA is to preserve the government's ability to 
conduct electronic surveillance in the face of changing communications 
technology, to protect the privacy of customer communications, and to 
avoid impeding the development of new telecommunications services and 
technology. In CALEA, Congress placed an affirmative requirement on 
telecommunications carriers to modify and design

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their network equipment, facilities, and services to continue to permit 
law enforcement to conduct electronic surveillance in the face of 
changing network technology. This requirement, however, is subject to 
certain specified conditions such as the reimbursement of the 
industry's cost of implementation of CALEA and the reasonable 
achievability of the proposed changes to carrier networks.
  Congress intended that the FBI, which has been delegated the 
responsibility of implementing CALEA on behalf of the Attorney General, 
have only a consultative role in the implementation of CALEA. Congress 
also intended that the telecommunications industry develop the 
technical standards necessary to permit carriers to implement the 
needed changes in their networks. The carriers are required to permit 
law enforcement to continue to receive call content or call identifying 
information, pursuant to an appropriate court order or other lawful 
authorization.
  The FBI, however, has gone far beyond its consultative role in the 
implementation of CALEA. The FBI has insisted that the industry's 
technical standards include requirements for capabilities that go 
beyond the scope or intent of CALEA. The capabilities proposed to be 
included by the FBI are costly, technically difficult to deploy or 
technically infeasible, and raise significant legal and privacy 
concerns.
  The FBI is now threatening enforcement actions and the denial of 
appropriate cost reimbursement to the industry if its proposed 
capabilities are not deployed by the industry. In sum, these actions--
the delays in the issuance of technical standards and the required 
government notice of electronic surveillance capacity--have caused the 
implementation of CALEA to be seriously behind schedule.
  The bill I am introducing will merely clarify the intent of Congress 
when it enacted CALEA almost four years ago. It provides for 
definitions of terms necessary to clarify that Congress intended that 
the telecommunications carriers' existing network technology be 
``grandfathered'' or deemed in compliance with CALEA, unless the costs 
of retrofitting such technology are borne by the government. Further, 
my bill provides for the extension of dates of compliance for the 
telecommunications industry which recognize the reality of the delays 
that the industry has faced in its implementation of CALEA. My bill 
will not add any additional costs to the government over and above the 
$500 million originally authorized in CALEA. However, the delays 
occasioned by the FBI could very well add to the government's costs of 
this important legislation in the future. I urge my colleagues to 
support this important legislation.

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