Friend, The following excerpt is reposted by permission of editor@cdt.org (cdt = Center for Democracy and Technology). CDT POLICY POST Number 28 November 6, 1995 CONTENTS: (1) Senator Leahy Calls on FBI to Justify Surveillance Capacity Request (2) Text of Senator Leahy's Letter to FBI Director Freeh (3) Review of Digital Telephony Implementation to Date (4) How To Subscribe To The CDT Policy Post Distribution List (5) About CDT, Contacting Us This document may be re-distributed freely provided it remains in its entirety. Excerpts may be re-posted by permission (editor@cdt.org) [snip] (3) REVIEW OF DIGITAL TELEPHONY PROCESS TO DATE [snip] * DIRECT NEGOTIATIONS WITH TELECOMMUNICATIONS CARRIERS FOR SURVEILLANCE CAPACITY ABOVE THE NATIONAL MINIMUM? The FBI has proposed to undertake direct negotiations with telecommunications carriers for surveillance capacity beyond the proposed national minimum standard requested in the notice. When Congress passed CALEA last year, it created a public process to bring law enforcement's electronic surveillance ability under public scrutiny in order to balance the new authority to influence the design of telecommunications networks. The public accountability provisions of CALEA require the FBI to publish *all* surveillance capacity requests. Congress must take a critical look at this aspect of the FBI's proposal, and should not appropriate funds until the FBI agrees to disclose all capacity requests, as required by the law. [snip] To subscibe to the policy post distribution list, send mail to "Majordomo@cdt.org" with: subscribe policy-posts in the body of the message (leave the subject line blank) ---- Cordially, Jim