Capacity Required

Section 104 of CALEA requires the Attorney General to publish in the Federal Register the actual number of simultaneous intercepts and maximum capacity required to accommodate all communication interceptions, pen registers, and trap and trace devices, that carriers may be required to conduct for law enforcement agencies. To meet this directive, the FBI conducted an unprecedented nationwide survey of past electronic surveillance to establish a historical baseline from which future capacity requirements could be projected.

On October 16, 1995, the FBI published an Initial Notice of Capacity, 60 Fed. Reg. 53,643 (1995) for local exchange, cellular, and broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS) carriers.

The FBI published the Telecommunications Carrier Statement Notice, 61 Fed. Reg. 15,974 (1996) on April 10, 1996, for carriers to comment on the collection of information necessary to implement section 104 of CALEA.

On January 14, 1997, the FBI published a Second Notice of Capacity, 62 Fed. Reg. 1902 (1997) for local exchange, cellular and broadband Personal Communications Services (PCS) carriers. For background information, you can read the press release and the statement made by Assistant Director James K. Kallstrom concerning the Second Notice of Capacity.

The Final Notice of Capacity, 63 Fed. Reg. 12,218 (1998) was published on March 12, 1998, providing law enforcement's capacity requirements for local exchange, cellular, and broadband personal communications services (PCS). As mandated by CALEA, telecommunications carriers were required to file Carrier Statements by September 8, 1998, identifying any systems or services that did not have the capacity to accommodate the published requirements. Effective March 12, 2001, carriers must comply with the capacity requirements as specified in the Final Notice of Capacity pursuant to the FBI's Cost Recovery regulations.

In July 1998, the FBI developed the Final Notice of Capacity Small Entity Compliance Guide which sets forth guidelines and procedures to facilitate small carrier compliance with the Final Notice of Capacity. The Small Entity Compliance Guide fulfills the requirements of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (SBREFA) (5 U.S.C. § 801-808).

On December 18, 1998, the FBI published a Notice of Inquiry, 63 Fed. Reg. 70,160 (1998) which offered an opportunity for interested parties to provide input to the FBI as it develops law enforcement's capacity requirements for services other than local exchange, cellular, and broadband PCS. These technologies and services include, but are not limited to: paging, mobile satellite services, specialized mobile radio, and enhanced specialized mobile radio. An FBI Further Notice of Inquiry, 65 Fed. Reg. 40,694 (2000) was published on June 30, 2000. The inquiry seeks additional input on the various issues related to establishing a Notice of Capacity for paging, Mobile Satellite System (MSS), and Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) services. The status of this rulemaking proceeding was published on June 28, 2004, in the Department of Justice Semiannual Regulatory Agenda at 69 Fed. Reg. 37,771 (2004).

The case of United States Telecom Association v. FBI, et. al., Cv. No. 98-2010, was decided on August 28, 2000, by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. It was ordered by the court that the defendants' motion for summary judgment be granted and plaintiff's cross-motion for summary judgment be denied. On January 18, 2002, the case of United States Telecom Association v. FBI, et. al., No. 00-5386, was decided by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The judgment of the district court was ordered affirmed and reversed. In a supplement for the purpose of responding to a court decision to remand for further explanation two issues of the Final Notice of Capacity, the FBI published notice 68 Fed. Reg. 68,112 (2003) on December 5, 2003. As part of the Department of Justice's Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, the FBI published on May 16, 2005, the status of this rulemaking proceeding as the Final Notice of Capacity Supplement to Respond to Remand 70 Fed. Reg. 27,151 (2005).