Report: FBI forms high-tech surveillance unit

The US Federal Bureau of Investigation has silently set up a unit that can keep tabs on Internet, wireless and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communications, a tech site has reported. Last Wednesday, CNET said it learned the FBI's new unit, dubbed the Domestic Communications Assistance Center, is also tasked with developing new electronic surveillance technologies. "DCAC's mandate is broad, covering everything from trying to intercept and decode Skype conversations to building custom wiretap hardware or analyzing the gigabytes of data that a wireless provider or social network might turn over in response to a court order," it said. "It is also designed to serve as a kind of surveillance help desk for state, local, and other federal police," CNET added. On the other hand, it said the FBI's new unit is tasked as well to invent technology that will let police more readily eavesdrop on Internet and wireless communications. It added the staff of the new unit, to be based in Quantico in Virginia, will include agents from the US Marshals Service and the Drug Enforcement Agency. CNET also noted the center represents the technological component of the bureau's "Going Dark" Internet wiretapping push, which was allocated $54 million by a Senate committee last month. It said the legal component involves Internet companies not opposing a proposed law that would require social-networks and providers of VoIP, instant messaging, and Web e-mail to build in back-doors for government surveillance. Spyware Steve Bock, president of Colorado-based Subsentio, said they expect capabilities like CIPAV "would be an example" of what the DCAC will create. He was referring to the FBI's remotely-installed spyware that it has used to identify extortionists, database-deleting hackers, child molesters, and hitmen. Bock, whose company helps companies comply with the 1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA) and has consulted for the Justice Department, says he anticipates "that Internet and wireless will be two key focus areas" for the DCAC, while VoIP will be a third. FBI response CNET said the FBI responded to queries with a statement about the center, which it also refers to as the National Domestic Communications Assistance Center. It said the NDCAC can leverage the research and development efforts of federal, state, and local law enforcement with respect to electronic surveillance capabilities. Also, it can facilitate the sharing of technology among law enforcement agencies. "It is important to point out that the NDCAC will not be responsible for the actual execution of any electronic surveillance court orders and will not have any direct operational or investigative role in investigations. It will provide the technical knowledge and referrals in response to law enforcement's requests for technical assistance," it said. Not yet operational CNET quoted one person familiar with the FBI's procedures as saying the DCAC is in the process of being launched but is not yet operational. But it noted a public Justice Department document refers to the DCAC as "recently established." "The big question for me is why there isn't more transparency about what's going on? We should know more about the program and what the FBI is doing. Which carriers they're working with – which carriers they're having problems with. They're doing the best they can to avoid being transparent," CNET quoted Jennifer Lynch, a staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a civil liberties group in San Francisco, as saying. Citing internal FBI documents, CNET said the DCAC concept dates back at least four years, with FBI director Robert Mueller being briefed on it in early 2008. It also noted the Senate appropriations committee said in a report last month that, for electronic surveillance capabilities, it authorizes "$54,178,000, which is equal to both the request and the fiscal year 2012 enacted level." The Senate said these funds will support the DCAC, providing for increased coordination regarding lawful electronic surveillance amongst the law enforcement community and with the communications industry. But CNET said it was unclear whether all of those funds will go to the DCAC. But the CNET report also said the FBI may eventually be forced to lift the cloak of secrecy that has surrounded the DCAC's creation. Last May 2, a House of Representatives committee directed the bureau to disclose "participation by other agencies and the accomplishments of the center to date" three months after the legislation is enacted. — LBG, GMA News