RENO WIDENS SEARCH FOR UNIVERSITY TO REVIEW FBI'S SURVEILLANCE
SYSTEM

Attorney General Janet Reno announced Wednesday that the Justice
Department will broaden the search for a university to serve as the
official reviewer of Carnivore, a controversial electronic-surveillance
system.

Earlier this month Assistant Attorney General Stephen Colgate, who will
oversee the university review of Carnivore, said the Justice Department
would choose an institution from a list of about 10. The institution
will study the system to see that it works as planned and is not overly
intrusive.

Ms. Reno had been expected to name the university this week. But
instead she said that the search would be widened and the announcement
would be delayed until September 15 in order to "make the selection as
fair and equitable as possible."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation uses Carnivore to intercept
millions of e-mail messages every second. It says it reads only the
messages going to and from suspected criminals, but many privacy
experts warn that Carnivore may also snatch messages from innocent
people.

At her weekly press briefing here Wednesday, Ms. Reno said the
department would post on its Web site at 5 p.m. today the tasks it
expects the chosen university to fulfill, so that any institution may
apply. The standards will be online for 10 business days, and then
within two days the department's Carnivore review team will recommend a
university to Ms. Reno.

"This process ensures a level playing field amongst all the
universities that have expressed an interest, and ensures a greater
openness and understanding of the task we are requesting the university
to undertake," Ms. Reno said.

Asked if the department was being inundated with inquiries from
interested universities, Ms. Reno referred the question to her
spokeswoman, who declined comment.

Ms. Reno said the department still expects the selected university to
complete its review of Carnivore by December 1.

Mr. Colgate acknowledged earlier this month that the department had
contacted the University of California at San Diego about participating
in the project. He declined to name other universities the department
was considering.

Despite widespread interest in participating in the Carnivore review,
there are risks for the chosen university, says Jim Severson, president
of the Association of University Technology Managers.

Suppose that university is seeking federal money for some project
unaffiliated with Carnivore, he says. People are going to ask whether
the institution gave a positive spin on Carnivore to boost its chances
of garnering federal money.

"Even if it's an objective and arms-length report," he says, there
will always be some people who will be skeptical of it.