FBI To Form New Unit, Will Focus On Electronic Surveillance Technology Creation And Monitoring

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced on Wednesday that it is busily forming a new unit that will be responsible for developing new technologies for electronic surveillance.

The goal of the agency will be to expand surveillance capabilities of VoIP, wireless signals and the internet.

Reported by Cnet the new unit will be housed in Quantico, Virginia in the Domestic Communications Assistance Center. The unit will intercept Skype and other VoIP conversations, analyze data from social networks and listen in on wireless carrier signals.

The FBI ended its search for job applicants on May 2 and during that search the organization asked for people with experience in electronic surveillance, specifically involving cable modems, push-to-talk mobile phones and VoIP. The agency was hoping at that time to hire people who could properly evaluate “electronic surveillance solutions” for new and emerging technologies.

The DCAC will operate under a $54 billion Senate budget and are expected to work with federal, state and local law enforcement to better understand and develop technologies that center around electronic surveillance capabilities.

While the agency will develop surveillance technology and mull over data it will not by itself execute any type of court orders.

Executives from the FBI have been attempting to work with ISPs to create “backdoors” to their systems which would lead to better surveillance however those talks are still rather premature and could take months if not years to properly implement in a meaningful manner.

In the meantime the NSA is in the process of building a large data center which will focus solely on capturing and analyzing electronic communications.