February 11, 2009 9:35 PM
Armey: Carnivore Report Toothless
House Republican leader Dick Armey added his voice Wednesday to those accusing an outside review panel of whitewashing a controversial FBI cyber surveillance tool.
"The Department of Justice stacked the deck for this report," said Armey, of Texas, a champion of smaller, less intrusive government. "It selected reviewers and set the rules in order to ensure they would get the best possible review."
The system, dubbed Carnivore, is used by the FBI to keep court-ordered tabs on a criminal suspect's e-mail traffic, Web surfing and instant messages.
Armey and other critics, including civil liberties groups and privacy advocates, have raised concerns about whether the cybersnooping may go beyond court orders and breach the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.
In a draft technical report released Tuesday night, the IIT Research Institute said Carnivore should be fine-tuned to protect routine online communications from interception.
But the institute, tapped by the Justice Department to complete the $175,000 study from a field of 11 vying for the contract, called the computer-based Carnivore system potentially "more effective in protecting privacy and enabling lawful surveillance" than alternatives.
When correctly used, "it provides investigators with no more information than is permitted by a given court order," said the institute, an arm of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
The report recommends that the FBI make some changes in the Carnivore program so it's easier for agents to use and less open to possible abuse.
"In the current Carnivore software," the report says, "it is possible to select filter settings that may not be appropriate or even technically feasible," including a selection that would "collect all information that is available on the local area network."
Carnivore also lacks "individual accountability," the authors say, because each action is not traceable to a specific FBI technician. "Given that chain-of-custody for the collected evidence is important, it should be important to know who set up the collection and when it was set up," the report said.
The seven-member panel that prepared the draft report included several people with strong ties to law enforcement and the Clinton administration, critics have charged.
In his statement, Armey said: "This important issue deserves a truly independent review, not a whitewash."
Richard Diamond, an Armey spokesman, said the newly elected Congress that takes office in January would continue its oversight of Carnivore.
"We don't really know who's going to be running the Department of Justice and that makes a big difference," he added, referring to action under way that will determine whether Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore wins the White House.
Attorney General Janet Reno ordered an independent review of Carnivore's inner workngs after a stir in Congress.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Colgate, head of the review panel that will make recommendations to Reno on Carnivore, defended the institute as fully independent and said its draft report demonstrated this.
In addition, the public is welcome to comment on the draft, available at www.usdoj.gov, as a prelude to the institute's presentation of a final version of its review on Dec. 8, he said in a telephone interview.
Colgate said the institute had also scrutinized a test model of the next version of Carnivore, which "probably will begin being used shortly after the New Year."
Stephen Smith, the IIT Research Institute project manager for the review, said in a telephone interview: "I would ask people to read the report and decide for themselves if it is fair."
In its report, the institute found inadequate audit trails for pinning down individual accountability for actions taken during use of Carnivore. Colgate said the problem was being addressed in the system's next version.
He said his panel would make recommendations to Reno on "improvements that need to be made in the system" after taking account of the institute's suggestions.
David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said nothing in the report released on Tuesday addressed the fundamental legal and constitutional questions surrounding Carnivore.
"The problem with Carnivore is that it gives the FBI access to the communications of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent Internet users," he said. "It's not sufficient for the bureau to say, 'Trust us, we won't do anything wrong.' Most users want more of an assurance than that."
The American Civil Liberties Union said the choice of the institute "guaranteed a pat on the head" to Carnivore.
"This report is, at best, a fuzzy snapshot of Carnivore, and it will be obsolete in two months when the FBI comes out with the next version of Carnivore," ACLU Associate Director Barry Steinhardt said.
©2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Ltd. contributed to this report
"The Department of Justice stacked the deck for this report," said Armey, of Texas, a champion of smaller, less intrusive government. "It selected reviewers and set the rules in order to ensure they would get the best possible review."
The system, dubbed Carnivore, is used by the FBI to keep court-ordered tabs on a criminal suspect's e-mail traffic, Web surfing and instant messages.
Armey and other critics, including civil liberties groups and privacy advocates, have raised concerns about whether the cybersnooping may go beyond court orders and breach the U.S. Constitution's Fourth Amendment ban on unreasonable searches.
In a draft technical report released Tuesday night, the IIT Research Institute said Carnivore should be fine-tuned to protect routine online communications from interception.
But the institute, tapped by the Justice Department to complete the $175,000 study from a field of 11 vying for the contract, called the computer-based Carnivore system potentially "more effective in protecting privacy and enabling lawful surveillance" than alternatives.
When correctly used, "it provides investigators with no more information than is permitted by a given court order," said the institute, an arm of the Illinois Institute of Technology.
The report recommends that the FBI make some changes in the Carnivore program so it's easier for agents to use and less open to possible abuse.
"In the current Carnivore software," the report says, "it is possible to select filter settings that may not be appropriate or even technically feasible," including a selection that would "collect all information that is available on the local area network."
Carnivore also lacks "individual accountability," the authors say, because each action is not traceable to a specific FBI technician. "Given that chain-of-custody for the collected evidence is important, it should be important to know who set up the collection and when it was set up," the report said.
The seven-member panel that prepared the draft report included several people with strong ties to law enforcement and the Clinton administration, critics have charged.
In his statement, Armey said: "This important issue deserves a truly independent review, not a whitewash."
Richard Diamond, an Armey spokesman, said the newly elected Congress that takes office in January would continue its oversight of Carnivore.
"We don't really know who's going to be running the Department of Justice and that makes a big difference," he added, referring to action under way that will determine whether Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Al Gore wins the White House.
Attorney General Janet Reno ordered an independent review of Carnivore's inner workngs after a stir in Congress.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Colgate, head of the review panel that will make recommendations to Reno on Carnivore, defended the institute as fully independent and said its draft report demonstrated this.
In addition, the public is welcome to comment on the draft, available at www.usdoj.gov, as a prelude to the institute's presentation of a final version of its review on Dec. 8, he said in a telephone interview.
Colgate said the institute had also scrutinized a test model of the next version of Carnivore, which "probably will begin being used shortly after the New Year."
Stephen Smith, the IIT Research Institute project manager for the review, said in a telephone interview: "I would ask people to read the report and decide for themselves if it is fair."
In its report, the institute found inadequate audit trails for pinning down individual accountability for actions taken during use of Carnivore. Colgate said the problem was being addressed in the system's next version.
He said his panel would make recommendations to Reno on "improvements that need to be made in the system" after taking account of the institute's suggestions.
David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center said nothing in the report released on Tuesday addressed the fundamental legal and constitutional questions surrounding Carnivore.
"The problem with Carnivore is that it gives the FBI access to the communications of hundreds, if not thousands, of innocent Internet users," he said. "It's not sufficient for the bureau to say, 'Trust us, we won't do anything wrong.' Most users want more of an assurance than that."
The American Civil Liberties Union said the choice of the institute "guaranteed a pat on the head" to Carnivore.
"This report is, at best, a fuzzy snapshot of Carnivore, and it will be obsolete in two months when the FBI comes out with the next version of Carnivore," ACLU Associate Director Barry Steinhardt said.
©2000 CBS Worldwide Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press and Reuters Ltd. contributed to this report
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved.
