Released: June 30, 2006

Lawmakers: phone records database incomplete

Source: USA Today

Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees confirm that the National Security Agency has compiled a massive database of domestic phone call records. But some lawmakers also say that cooperation by the nation’s telecommunication companies was not as extensive as first reported by USA Today on May 11. Several lawmakers, briefed in secret by intelligence officials about the program after the story was published, described a call records database that is enormous but incomplete. Most asked that they not be identified by name, and many offered only limited responses to questions, citing national security concerns.

In the May 11 article that revealed the database, USA TODAY reported that its sources said AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon had agreed to provide the NSA with call records.

AT&T, which is the nation’s largest telecommunications company, providing service to tens of millions of Americans, hasn’t confirmed or denied its participation with the database. BellSouth and Verizon have denied that they contracted with the NSA to turn over phone records. On May 12, an attorney for former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio confirmed the USA TODAY report that Qwest had declined to participate in the NSA program.

Most members of the intelligence committees wouldn’t discuss which companies cooperated with the NSA. However, several did offer more information about the program’s breadth and scope ...

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