FBI, Phone Firms at Odds Over Wiretaps

The FBI is pressuring the nation’s phone companies to install equipment in their new digital communications systems that will significantly expand the nature of electronic surveillance, according to a joint filing Tuesday by privacy advocates and the telecommunications industry.

That assertion was made in response to an FBI statement in March that a proposed industry standard for ensuring the use of wiretaps on digital systems “does not include all the functionality required to satisfy evidentiary needs dictated by law and the courts.”

The two documents are the latest volleys in an escalating dispute between an industry that has historically been a valued partner of law enforcement, and the FBI, which views itself as an advocate for all federal agencies and police departments.

Congress passed the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 because the traditional methods of wiretapping would not work on the new digital phone systems. The law requires telecommunications companies to ensure that their systems accommodate lawful wiretaps but left it up to the industry to come up with a standard of surveillance capabilities.

The FBI has contributed to the standards-setting process by offering its own recommendations.

Leery of other technology programs that have been mismanaged by the FBI, appropriations committees have put a hold on $100 million in FBI funding for implementing the statute until the FBI more clearly explains its intentions.

Now, the House and Senate will have to sort out the conflicting claims. In the meantime, the implementation of the important wiretap statute has fallen behind schedule. Industry executives said they know of no case in which the delay has prevented the use of a court-authorized wiretap.

Thomas E. Wheeler, president of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Assn., said the industry has adopted most of the FBI’s suggestions but has balked at FBI recommendations that he said have become non-negotiable demands.

“The frustration that we have had is that the efforts to resolve these issues have been rebuffed,” Wheeler said. “And the answer has been the FBI saying, ‘It is our way or no way.’ ”

Edward Allen, the FBI’s section chief for electronic surveillance technology, said the agency has participated in more than 300 meetings with the industry and has no reason to delay the process.