Lawmakers Say NSA Database Incomplete

So, more information about the NSA database is coming out now, and according to USA Today, the database the NSA created is not complete. The people saying this made some statements that confirmed some stuff and denied other things. From the article:

Five members of the intelligence committees said they were told by senior intelligence officials that AT&T participated in the NSA domestic calls program.

AT&T, asked to comment, issued a written statement Thursday. "The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program because doing so would cause 'exceptionally grave harm to national security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes," it said. "Under these circumstances, AT&T is not able to respond to such allegations."

Yeah, we kind of figured out that much for ourselves, thanks to Mark Klein.

Five members of the intelligence committees said they were told that BellSouth did not turn over domestic call records to the NSA.

Asked about BellSouth's denial, Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said, "What they said appears to be accurate."

Still, BellSouth customers' call records could end up in the NSA database, he said. "Obviously, a BellSouth customer can contract with AT&T (for long-distance phone service). There is a possibility that numbers are available from other phone companies."

We've been through this before. Back when Bell South denied USA Today's report, USA Today had talked with Bell South about this report five weeks before it was published, and they didn't deny it then. If it was so false, why didn't Bell South say something about it then?

And this whole issue is just assinine because AT&T is trying to merge with Bell South anyway. And since we all know AT&T's role in this program, you can guess what's gonna happen to Bell South's customers if they merge, assuming Bell South didn't participate in the first place.

On that note...

Three lawmakers said that they had been told that Verizon did not turn over call records to the NSA. However, those three and another lawmaker said MCI, the long-distance carrier that Verizon acquired in January, did provide call records to the government.

While Verizon has denied providing call records to the NSA, it has declined to comment on whether MCI participated in the calls database program.

"The President has referred to an NSA program, which he authorized, directed against al-Qaeda," Verizon said in a written statement May 12. "Because that program is highly classified, Verizon cannot comment on that program, nor can we confirm or deny whether we have had any relationship to it." The statement also said the company was now "ensuring that Verizon's policies are implemented at that entity (MCI) and that all its activities fully comply with law."

So Verizon is denying their involvement again, and now people are saying that MCI, which Verizon owns, participated.

Oy vey.