Letter from Patrick Kelly, Deputy General Counsel of the FBI, to John Rogovin, General Counsel of the FCC.
Date: January 28, 2004.
Re: Statement of intent to file petition for rulemaking regarding extending CALEA requirements to VOIP services.
Source: FCC.

Note: The correct spelling is Rogovin.

In Reply, Please Refer to
File No.

January 28, 2004

Mr. John Rogovan, General Counsel
Office of the General Counsel
Federal Communications Commission
Washington, D.C. 20554

Dear Mr. Rogovan

Pursuant to your request, made during a conference call on Friday, January 23, 2004, this letter confirms that the Department of Justice (DOJ), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will jointly file a petition before the FCC seeking comprehensive rules to implement the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act of 1994 (CALEA). The petition, which we intend to file within the next several weeks, will address a variety of issues including what broadband services and service providers should be subject to CALEA, as well as the procedures needed to bring those services and providers into compliance with CALEA.

In confirming our intention to file a petition for CALEA rule making we also hereby reiterate the position previously taken before the FCC, that it is necessary to address CALEA issues in a comprehensive, technology neutral, manner rather than in a piecemeal fashion, one service provider or technology at a time. Accordingly, we are requesting that the CALEA rule making be completed prior to the other related but non-CALEA specific broadband proceedings pending before the FCC. Otherwise, the outcome of the non-CALEA broadband proceedings could serve to prejudice the outcome of the CALEA rule making proceeding. We believe that it is particularly important for the FCC to directly and thoughtfully consider, by means of a comprehensive CALEA rule making, the multiple regulatory theories that may be employed to subject broadband providers to CALEA.

It is our understanding that the FCC supports and is anxious to open a comprehensive CALEA rule making as soon as possible. This gesture of commitment, as reflected in your remarks during the aforesaid conference call, is appreciated and we look forward to working with the FCC on this matter of paramount importance to the law enforcement and national security interests of the United States