The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA Today.
One major telecommunications company declined to participate in the program: Denver-based Qwest.
The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses nationwide by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans – most of whom aren’t suspected of any crime. This program does not involve listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is analyzing calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said.
“It’s the largest database ever assembled in the world,” said one person, who, like the others who agreed to talk about the NSA’s activities, declined to be identified. The agency’s goal is “to create a database of every call ever made” within the U.S., this person added.
For customers of these companies, it means the government has detailed records of calls they made – across town or across the country – to family, co-workers, business contacts and others.
The three telecoms are working under contract with the NSA, which launched the program in 2001 shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks, the sources said.
Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden, nominated Monday by President Bush to become the director of the CIA, headed the NSA from March 1999 to April 2005. Hayden would have overseen the domestic call-tracking program. Hayden declined to comment about the program.
The NSA’s domestic program, as described by sources, is far more expansive than what the White House has acknowledged. Last year, Bush said he had authorized the NSA to eavesdrop – without warrants – on international calls and e-mails of people suspected of having links to terrorists.
Warrants also have not been used in the NSA’s efforts to create a national call database.
Don Weber, a senior spokesman for the NSA, declined to discuss the operations. Similarly, representatives of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon refused to comment beyond assertions that they are acting within the law.
According to multiple sources, Qwest declined to participate because it was uneasy about the legal implications of handing over proprietary customer information without warrants.
Its refusal has left the NSA with a hole in its database. Qwest provides local phone service to 14 million customers in 14 states in the West and Northwest. But AT&T and Verizon also provide services – primarily long-distance and wireless – in Qwest’s region and can provide the NSA with some access in the area.
According to sources familiar with the events, Qwest’s chief executive at the time, Joe Nacchio, was deeply troubled by the NSA’s assertion that Qwest didn’t need a court order – or approval under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which was designed to protect Americans from illegal eavesdropping – to proceed.
Adding to the tension, Qwest was unclear about who would have access to its customers’ information and how that information might be used. Financial implications were also a concern, the sources said. Carriers that illegally divulge calling information can face heavy fines.
NSA representatives tried appealing to Qwest’s patriotic side: In one meeting, an NSA representative suggested Qwest’s refusal could compromise national security, one person recalled.
In addition, the agency reportedly suggested that Qwest’s foot-dragging might affect its ability to get future classified work with the government.
Qwest’s lawyers asked the NSA to take its proposal directly to the FISA court. According to the sources, the agency refused.
In June 2002, Nacchio resigned amid allegations that he had misled investors about Qwest’s financial health. But Qwest’s questions about the NSA request remained. Unable to reach agreement, Nacchio’s successor, Richard Notebaert, ended the NSA talks in late 2004, the sources said.
Asked about the progam, Qwest spokesman Robert Charlton said: “We can’t talk about this. It’s a classified situation.”
