Subject: Judge Rejects Delay on FBI Wiretap Data Date: 3 Oct 1994 16:49:03 GMT
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PRESS RELEASE
For immediate release October 3, 1994
Contact: Marc Rotenberg, EPIC Director David Sobel, EPIC Legal Counsel 202 544 9240 (tel)
JUDGE REJECTS DELAY ON FBI WIRETAP DATA;
"STUNNED" BY BUREAU'S REQUEST
WASHINGTON, D.C.- A federal judge today denied the FBI's request for a five-year delay in processing documents concerning wiretap legislation now pending in Congress.
Saying he was "stunned" by the Bureau's attempt to postpone court proceedings for five years, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Richey ordered the FBI to release the material or to explain its reasons for withholding it by November 4.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), a public interest research group based in Washington, DC, filed the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit on August 9, the day legislation was introduced in Congress to authorize the expenditure of $500 million to make the nation's communications systems easier to wiretap. The group is seeking the public release of two surveys cited by FBI Director Louis Freeh in support of the pending legislation.
The FBI had moved to stay proceedings in the case until June 1999, more than five years after the filing of the initial request. The Bureau asserted it was confronted with "a backlog of pending FOIA requests awaiting processing." The FBI revealed that there are "an estimated 20 pages to be reviewed" but said that the materials would not be reviewed until "sometime in March 1999."
Judge Richey rejected the FBI's claims in sharp language from the bench. He told the government's attorney to "call Director Freeh and tell him I said this matter can be taken care of in an hour and a half."
In court papers filed late last week, EPIC charged that the requested materials are far too important to be kept secret. "The requested surveys were part of the FBI's long-standing campaign to gain passage of unprecedented legislation requiring the nation's telecommunications carriers to redesign their telephone networks to more easily facilitate court-ordered wiretapping," said the EPIC brief.
Earlier documents obtained through the FOIA in similar litigation with the FBI revealed no technical obstacles to the exercise of court-authorized wire surveillance.
The FBI is pushing for quick enactment of the wiretap legislation in the closing days of the 103rd Congress. A grassroots campaign to oppose the measure is being coordinated by EPIC and Voters Telecomm Watch.
The Electronic Privacy Information Center is a project of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, a membership organization based in Palo Alto, California, and the Fund for Constitutional Government, a Washington-based foundation dedicated to the protection of Constitutional freedoms. 202 544 9240 (tel), 202 547 5482 (fax), info@epic.org (e-mail).
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