Electronic Surveillance: Technologies Continue to Pose Challenges
Highlights
GAO discussed proposed legislation to preserve law enforcement agencies' ability to conduct court-approved wire-taps. GAO noted that: (1) the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have reasonably defined their capability requirements for new telecommunications technologies, but they have yet to precisely define their capacity requirements; (2) the proposed legislation provides for reimbursing telecommunications carriers for their reasonable costs in complying with the bill's provisions, but the total cost of implementing the bill's requirements could not be estimated because law enforcement requirements and implementation technologies are still evolving; and (3) cooperation and communication between law enforcement agencies and the telecommunications industry on possible solutions could reduce costs.