By denying carriers the right to recoup their costs for making their networks CALEA compliant, the Department of Justice is effectively trying to fund their surveillance activities “off the books”. Recall the Iran-Contra Affair of the Reagan Administration where the CIA funded its operations in Nicaragua by selling arms to Iran, bypassing the federal budget process and privatizing national security. Now the Department of Justice is bypassing the federal budget and getting the telecommunications industry to fund its wiretap efforts. The federal budget is a one of the ways that the citizenry curbs the power of government. If government is able to go off the books and fund its objectives, then there are no limits to government.