Phone carriers quiet on U.S. surveillance program

Peter Kaplan
Reuters
Tuesday October 16, 2007

Major U.S. telephone carriers refused to answer questions from the Democratic-led Congress about their possible participation in President George W. Bush's warrantless domestic spying program, according to documents released by lawmakers on Monday.

At issue are reports that surfaced last year that some big telephone companies allowed the U.S. government access to millions of telephone records for Bush's anti-terror efforts following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

Officials from AT&T, Verizon Communications and Qwest Communications International told the House Energy and Commerce Committee they could not discuss specifics about their companies' roles in any such effort.

The phone companies said it would be illegal for them to discuss the kind of program lawmakers were asking about without permission from the Bush administration.

AT&T "essentially finds itself caught in the middle of an oversight dispute between the Congress and the executive relating to government surveillance activities," AT&T General Counsel Wayne Watts said in a letter to the committee.

"Unfortunately, under current circumstances, we are unable to respond with specificity to your inquiries," Watts added in the letter to the panel headed by Rep. John Dingell, a Michigan Democrat.

Bush has demanded retroactive immunity from liability for telecommunication firms that participated in warrantless surveillance as part of any new bill to revise the laws governing the tracking of suspected enemy targets.

House Democratic leaders have refused, saying that the administration must first explain what these firms did before they will even consider granting immunity.

The phone companies' responses to Dingell were sent to the committee on Friday.

Full article here.