5 September 2001
To: sharon.bisco@nist.gov
From: John Young <jya@pipeline.com>
Date: 13 June 2001
Subject: FOIA Request
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Sharon Bisco, FOIA & Privacy Act Officer
100 Bureau Drive, STOP 3220
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3220
Dear Ms. Bisco,
This requests under the FOIA the following document :
NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS)
for Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN)
The document is described at the URL:
http://www.nlectc.org/SpecialAnnouncements/olespubs062001.html [now removed; see copy below]
There it is stated:
The standard bears a FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY classification, meaning it may be disclosed only to members of the law enforcement community and those in private industries supporting law enforcement activities. Please submit the request on your company letterhead. There is no charge for the standard, but only written requests can be honored. Send requests for this CD-ROM to A. George Lieberman, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8102, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8102.
I operate a public interest Web site, cryptome.org, which publishes information on law enforcement matters, and the information in this document will be published there.
A CD-ROM of the document is preferred, but hardcopy will do if the CD is not available.
Thank you very much,
John Young
Cryptome
251 West 89th Street
New York, NY 10024
Tel: 212-873-8700
Fax: 212-787-6102
[Received by certified mail 13 July 2001.]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
July 5, 2001
Mr. John Young
Cryptome
251 West 89th Street
New York, NY 10024
Dear Mr. Young,
Re: Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Request of June 13, 2001
This letter is in response to the above-referenced FOIA request. NIST has conducted a search for records that are responsive to your request and has identified a number of such records. The identified records must be reviewed in detail by NIST to determine if they contain information which is exempted from disclosure under one or more exceptions to the FOIA. One such exception allows agencies to withhold "Records or information compiled for law enforcement purposes . . ." (see 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)(7)). In order to complete a detailed review, you are hereby notified that pursuant to Title 15 CFR Part 4.6(b)(2) NIST requires a 10 business-day time extension to respond to your request. NIST expects to send to you its determination by July 24, 2001.
Please to not hesitate to call me on (301) 975-4054 if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Sharon E. Bisco
NIST Freedom of Information Act Officer
[Received by regular mail 6 August 2001.]
U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Justice Programs
Washington, D.C. 20531
August 3 2001
Mr. John Young
Cryptome 251
West 89th Street
New York, New York 10024
OJP FOIA No. 01-00242 (Please reference this number on all future correspondence.)
Dear Mr. Young:
This letter is in response to your Freedom of Information Act/Privacy Act request for information regarding NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Network (ISD4
The Office of Justice Programs (OJP) is the grant making arm of the Department of Justice, whose goal it is to implement innovative criminal justice programs through grants to state and local governments, as well as to institutions of higher learning and non-profit organizations, with the intent of fostering improvements in the country's criminal and juvenile justice systems.
We have been informed by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), OJP, that there are no documents in this agency which are responsive to your request. It is our understanding that the responsive information is being processed by the FOIA Office at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and you should be hearing from them directly.
We hope that we have been of assistance to you, and appreciate your patience in this regard.
Sincerely,
Dorothy A. Lee
Paralegal Specialist
Office of the General Counsel
NIST telephoned twice to ask for time extensions in complying with the FOIA request, which was agreed to.
[Received by certified mail 5 September 2001.]
UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899
AUG 31 2001
Mr. John Young
Cryptome
251 West 89th Street
New York, New York 10024
Dear Mr. Young,
This is in response to your request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for a copy of NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN).
The NIJ Standard-0227.00 was initially described at an NIJ website as being available for dissemination upon request to members of the law enforcement community and those in private industries supporting law enforcement activities. This description was in error, and the NIJ has since removed it from the website.
NIST has determined that the NIJ Standard should be withheld from disclosure under subsection (a)(3) of the FOIA (5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(3)), pursuant to FOIA exemption (b)(2), which permits agencies to withhold documents that relate solely to personnel rules and practices of an agency. The standard identifies the specifications for equipment that will be used by Federal law enforcement agencies.
Within the next couple months NIST, working in conjunction with the NIJ, plans to release a second version of the NIJ 0227.00 Digital Intercept System for ISDN Networks Standard which will be made widely available to interested members of the public.
You have the right to appeal this determination. Such an appeal must be filed within 30 calendar days of the date on this letter to:
Assistant General Counsel for Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 5882
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Your appeal should include a copy of your original request, a copy of this determination, and a statement of the reason(s) you believe this determination to be in error. Both your letter and the envelope in which it is mailed should be prominently marked "Freedom of Information Act Appeal."
If you have any questions regarding the procedures or your right to appeal, you may contact me by letter.
Sincerely,
Marilia A. Matos
Deputy Director for Management Services
Cryptome 251 West 89th Street
New York, NY 10024
212-873-8700
5 September 2001
Assistant General Counsel for Administration
U.S. Department of Commerce
Room 5882
14th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20230
Re: Freedom of Information Act Appeal
Dear Counsel,
This appeals denial by the National Institute of Standards and Technology of an FOIA request for a copy of NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN), as described in the attached NIST letter.
The appeal is supported by widespread public interest in information about developing and applied technology for interception of communications by governmental agencies. There has been considerable controversy about such technologies and it is in the public interest:
1. To provide reliable information on interception technologies and policies of their application and oversight.2. To encourage public debate on the benefits and harms of the technologies.
3. To inform about research on technologies of law enforcement in cyberspace.
4. To demonstrate the value of open discourse on customarily secret procedures and technologies of communication interception.
The requested document will be published on the website Cryptome, www.cryptome.org.
Sincerely,
John Young
Cryptome
Email: jya@pipeline.com
Enc NIST letter, 2 pp.
[Original announcement, now removed:]
The purpose of NIJ Standard 0227.00 is to establish functional, performance, interface, and documentation requirements for the digital intercept systems developed for use by law enforcement agencies for interception and evidence gathering on basic rate access ISDN lines.
The digital intercept system provides the capability to intercept any voice or digital data traffic between a subscriber and an associate and forward it to a central collector station for decoding and processing.
The system is modular, consisting of one or more bridges (one for each subscriber line to be intercepted), and a central collector facility. The bridges intercept and forward all traffic from both directions on the subscriber's line to the central collector over leased forwarding facilities.
At the central collector, a workstation for each monitored line provides an agent with control of the intercept process. Voice is made available for headphone monitoring and analog tape recording; minimization capability is provided to limit data retention to that with evidentiary content. Digital messages are stored on separate media for later retrieval and review. Facsimile messages are routed to a processor port for analysis by an external device.
The standard was developed under the sponsorship of the National Institute of Justice (NIJ). The project began when NIST/OLES entered into an interagency agreement with the Federal Bureau of Investigation to provide technical guidance for developing ISDN intercept methodologies. After the technology was successfully demonstrated the preparation of the performance standard was undertaken. The standard is now available on a CD-ROM. The CD has been recorded in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). Reader software for viewing PDF files is included on the CD for Windows 95/98/NT and Macintosh Systems.
The standard bears a FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY classification, meaning it may be disclosed only to members of the law enforcement community and those in private industries supporting law enforcement activities. Please submit the request on your company letterhead. There is no charge for the standard, but only written requests can be honored.
Send requests for this CD-ROM to A. George Lieberman, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8102, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8102.
[Later announcement, now removed:]
NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Networks
(ISDN) (CD-ROM)
The purpose of NIJ Standard 0227.00 is to establish functional, performance, interface, and documentation requirements for the digital intercept systems developed for use by law enforcement agencies for interception and evidence gathering on basic rate access ISDN lines.
On June 12, 2001, NLECTC posted to this website that NIJ Standard-0227.00, Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN), would be made available upon written request.
As the standard in question contains material that is restricted to law enforcement, only written requests from law enforcement agencies will be accepted. Any release of information made pursuant to said request shall be subject to a non-disclosure agreement with the U.S. Government. We regret any inconvenience that this may cause.
Send requests for this CD-ROM to A. George Lieberman, Ph.D., National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8102, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8102.
[Abstract of DIS paper:]
Source: http://www.itl.nist.gov/lab/pubs99/l.htm
Lieberman, A.G.; Stenbakken, G.N.; Koenig, A.L.
Digital Intercept System (DIS) for Integrated Services Digital Networks (ISDN)
Submitted to National Institute of Justice (NIJ) Standard
The purpose of this standard is to establish functional, performance, interface and documentation requirements for the digital intercept systems to be developed for use by law enforcement agencies for interception and evidence gathering on basic rate access Integrated Service Digital Networks (ISDN). The standard is divided into several parts, beginning with the System Specification which presents the overall requirements for a complete digital intercept system. Detailed requirements for the interception device, known as a serial bridge, and the power supply it requires are contained in the Serial Bridge portion of the standard. Another portion, the Central Collector, presents the requirements for the hardware and software that receives the raw data from one or more bridges and processes the data for display, audio monitoring and recording, and archival digital storage. Several separate documents within the standard describe the requirements for interfaces between different parts of the system, such as Audio Recorder Interface, the Local Area Network Interface, and the Storage Media Interface. The human/machine interface requirements are described in the Operator Interface. Finally, a System Test Procedures document contains tests that can be used to verify all the requirements given in the standard.