Reading Room Document

Authority of National Telecommunications and Information Administration to Monitor Radio Communications

The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) may monitor radio communications to the extent reasonably necessary to discharge its functions under 47 U.S.C. § 305(a) and 15 U.S.C. § 272(12) & (13). Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1963 prohibits NTIA from aurally monitoring communications between a radio and a land-line telephone. The OLC does not provide release dates for its opinions, so the release date listed is the date on which the opinion was authored. The original opinion is available at www.justice.gov/file/22481/download.

February 12, 1980