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Friday, December 14, 2001 >BRIT HUME, HOST: Last time we reported on an Israeli-based company >called Amdocs Ltd. that generates the computerized records and >billing data for nearly every phone call made in America. As Carl >Cameron reported, U.S. investigators digging into the September 11 >terrorist attacks fear that suspects may have been tipped off to >what they were doing by information leaking out of Amdocs. > >In tonight's report, we learn that the concern about phone security >extends to another company, founded in Israel, that provides the >technology that the U.S. government uses for electronic >eavesdropping. Here is Carl Cameron's third report. > >(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CARL CAMERON, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): >The company is Comverse Infosys, a subsidiary of an Israeli-run >private telecommunications firm, with offices throughout the U.S. It >provides wiretapping equipment for law enforcement. Here's how >wiretapping works in the U.S. Every time you make a call, it passes >through the nation's elaborate network of switchers and routers run >by the phone companies. Custom computers and software, made by >companies like Comverse, are tied into that network to intercept, >record and store the wiretapped calls, and at the same time transmit >them to investigators. The manufacturers have continuing access to >the computers so they can service them and keep them free of >glitches. This process was authorized by the 1994 Communications >Assistance for Law Enforcement Act, or CALEA. Senior government >officials have now told Fox News that while CALEA made wiretapping >easier, it has led to a system that is seriously vulnerable to >compromise, and may have undermined the whole wiretapping system. >Indeed, Fox News has learned that Attorney General John Ashcroft and >FBI Director Robert Mueller were both warned Oct. 18 in a >hand-delivered letter from 15 local, state and federal law >enforcement officials, who complained that "law enforcement's >current electronic surveillance capabilities are less effective >today than they were at the time CALEA was enacted." Congress >insists the equipment it installs is secure. But the complaint about >this system is that the wiretap computer programs made by Comverse >have, in effect, a back door through which wiretaps themselves can >be intercepted by unauthorized parties. Adding to the suspicions is >the fact that in Israel, Comverse works closely with the Israeli >government, and under special programs, gets reimbursed for up to 50 >percent of its research and development costs by the Israeli >Ministry of Industry and Trade. But investigators within the DEA, >INS and FBI have all told Fox News that to pursue or even suggest >Israeli spying through Comverse is considered career suicide. And >sources say that while various F.B.I. inquiries into Comverse have >been conducted over the years, they've been halted before the actual >equipment has ever been thoroughly tested for leaks. A 1999 F.C.C. >document indicates several government agencies expressed deep >concerns that too many unauthorized non-law enforcement personnel >can access the wiretap system. And the FBI's own nondescript office >in Chantilly, Virginia that actually oversees the CALEA wiretapping >program, is among the most agitated about the threat. But there is a >bitter turf war internally at F.B.I. It is the FBI's office in >Quantico, Virginia, that has jurisdiction over awarding contracts >and buying intercept equipment. And for years, they've thrown much >of the business to Comverse. A handful of former U.S. law >enforcement officials involved in awarding Comverse government >contracts over the years now work for the company. Numerous sources >say some of those individuals were asked to leave government service >under what knowledgeable sources call "troublesome circumstances" >that remain under administrative review within the Justice >Department. (END VIDEOTAPE) > >And what troubles investigators most, particularly in New York, in >the counter terrorism investigation of the World Trade Center >attack, is that on a number of cases, suspects that they had sought >to wiretap and survey immediately changed their telecommunications >processes. They started acting much differently as soon as those >supposedly secret wiretaps went into place. -- Brit. > >HUME: Carl, is there any reason to suspect in this instance that the >Israeli government is involved? > >CAMERON: No, there's not. But there are growing instincts in an >awful lot of law enforcement officials in a variety of agencies who >suspect that it had begun compiling evidence, and a highly >classified investigation into that possibility Brit. > >HUME: All right, Carl. Thanks very much. > ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
