Federal Bureau of Investigation's
Implementation of the Communications Assistance
for Law Enforcement Act
00-10
March 2000

The CALEA required the GAO to report to Congress on the implementation of CALEA biannually beginning April 1, 1996. The CALEA was subsequently amended to give the OIG this reporting responsibility. On April 1, 1996, the GAO reported that law enforcement requirements had not been completed and, as a result, carriers had not modified equipment or requested or received reimbursement from the FBI.

We performed the audit in accordance with the Government Auditing Standards issued by the Comptroller General of the United States, and accordingly, included such procedures as were considered necessary to accomplish our audit. Our audit covered the period April 1998 through December 1999. Our procedures were designed to determine the status of CALEA implementation activities.

The DOJ assigned the responsibility for the implementation of CALEA to the FBI. The FBI established the CALEA Implementation Section (CIS) in its Information Resources Division and the TCAU in its Finance Division to carry out these responsibilities.

The mission of the CIS is to develop CALEA mandated law enforcement requirements, in concert with other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies; manufacturers; and carriers. Once the requirements are developed, the CIS must work with manufacturers and carriers to develop and deploy necessary products to implement law enforcement requirements.

The mission of the TCAU is to develop cost recovery regulations, audit plans and programs, and mechanisms for reimbursing carriers for equipment modifications to meet CALEA requirements. The TCAU will also review carrier proposal costs associated with FBI reimbursements for equipment modifications.