Bob Barr: “for nearly three years almost since the day the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 or CALEA was…”

“for nearly three years almost since the day the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 or CALEA was enacted, its journey has been problematic. CALEA is now more than three years old and is expected to be fully implemented on October 25, 1998. It now appears that this may not be the case. Conflicts between the FBI and the telecommunications industry over capability standards, capacity notices, and cost reimbursements, have become commonplace and serious. I have become very concerned that delays in putting standards in place have created major handicaps in fulfilling the Act. I have also concluded that law enforcement has been using CALEA to overreach, and that the FBI is looking to use CALEA for the perfect solution to their wiretapping wishes. Indeed, many of the so-called ``punch-list'' items clearly are beyond the scope of the Act. These and other critical matters were raised during an October 23d oversight hearing on CALEA held by the Crime Subcommittee of the Judiciary Committee.”