In a front page article on July 7, 1996, the Washington Post reported that the use of federal electronic surveillance in general, and telephone wiretaps in particular has nearly doubled during the Clinton administration. In the past, the high cost of wiretaps—more than US$70,000 per month for a federal wiretap—has deterred their use, but in recent years, spending levels on federal law enforcement has risen to levels that remove the cost concerns.
Jim McGee, the Washington Post staff writer who authored the article, quotes the person responsible for approving wiretap applications for the Justice Department as saying that wiretaps rose 32 percent in 1993 and between 30 percent to 40 percent in 1996. By way of contrast, there were 340 federal court orders issued allowing electronic surveillance in 1992—the last year of the Bush administration—and 672 in 1995. Estimates for 1996 are above 700 and the Justice Department has been on something of a shopping spree, adding more electronic equipment (including a US$33 million program to replace single-line wiretapping equipment with new devices that can monitor up to 40 lines at once), surveillance techniques, and personnel.
Alarmingly, these figures do not include any electronic surveillance court orders with regard to “national security” that have also risen at a sharp rate. According to a 1995 report by the administrative office of the U.S. Courts, governmental requests for electronic surveillance have become so commonplace that it’s been years since a prosecutor’s application for a wiretap order has been denied.
Coupled with the quickly growing budget for federal law enforcement is Attorney General Janet Reno’s decision to use electronic surveillance in the U.S. government’s “war” against drugs. Since 1993, the budgets of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) have grown 53 percent and 33 percent respectively.
In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court found that telephone conversations were protected by the Fourth Amendment. But in 1968, Congress passed legislation that allowed very limited electronic surveillance of those suspected of participating in organized crime and illegal gambling. Since 1968, Congress has consistently made additional suspected criminal activities subject to electronic surveillance.
Recent Justice Department opinion polls indicate that 70 percent of the U.S. citizenry disapproves of wiretapping. Nevertheless, in 1994 the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (also known as the Digital Telephony Bill) was signed into law, requiring telecommunications carriers to build special access for governmental wiretapping into digital telephone systems.
Civil liberties activists fought fiercely against the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act on the grounds that it was merely a move by federal law enforcement to increase the number and frequency of wiretaps. In response, FBI Director Louis J. Freeh stated in a letter to the New York Times: “there is no intention to expand the number of wiretaps or the extent of wiretapping….” A few months later, the FBI’s statistical projection report on future wiretapping needs submitted to Congress indicated that electronic surveillance would grow significantly: a 54 percent increase by 1998 and a 130 percent increase by 2004.
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