And I testified in front of the House that their estimate was grossly understated. I think it is more like 4-5 Billion . I called it the Software Full Employment Act of 94. (copy of testimony available). djf At 08:52 AM 8/2/96 -0700, Brock N. Meeks wrote:

On Thu, 1 Aug 1996, Ernest Hua wrote:

...

Louis Freeh is now asking the Congress for $2 billion to fund Digital Telephony. Yes, that is FOUR TIMES what he said it would cost the taxpayers to give up their own privacy. Score one for the cynics who said $500 million was not enough.

I broke the story about how much Digital Telephony would *really* cost in CyberWire Dispatch more than two years ago. The price tag in my piece: "... at least $2 billion..." In that Dispatch I wrote that the Clinton White House had made the decision to support the bill based on a flawed cost/benefit analysis study the FBI had done.

--Brock