U.S. Has Been Wiretapping Since Before 9/11

Brand new evidence has emerged that the U.S. government's warrantless wiretapping program predates the 9/11 terrorist attacks.^[1] Secret surveillance operations that enabled the National Security Agency (NSA) to access telecommunications traffic data have been in place since the 1990s.^[2] In an attempt to gain intelligence on narcotics trafficking the NSA forged an uneasy alliance with telecommunication companies to gather data on phone calls and emails from the US to Latin America.^[3]

The alliance between the US government and telecommunication companies to gather call records involving thousands of US and foreign citizens was constrained by legal worries and fears of public exposure.^[4] Even so, it took until 2004 for one unnamed carrier to break ranks and refuse to provide customer data.^[5]

Separately, US carrier Qwest refused to provide NSA spooks with access to local communications switches; this would have allowed surveillance of domestic phone calls without a court order.^[6] This occurred in early 2001, months before the World Trade Center attacks in September that year.^[7]

Negotiations between the NSA and AT&T in February 2001 allegedly involved replicating a New Jersey network centre to allow the US signals intelligence "access to all the global phone and email traffic that ran through it," an incident that has become one aspect of a lawsuit which also brings in allegations that Verizon set up a dedicated fibre-optic line from New Jersey to a large military facility in Quantico.^[8] An AT&T technician at the time has provided evidence supporting the allegations. However, other AT&T technicians are due to testify that the project was confined to improving internal communications within the NSA.^[9]

Since 2005, the warrantless wiretapping program has become the topic of 40 lawsuits.^[10]

Federal criminal defense attorney Douglas McNabb has previously blogged about the U.S. government’s warrantless wiretapping, here.

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^[1] John Leyden, US warrantless wiretapping predates 9/11, The Register, December 18, 2007, available at http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/12/18/warrantless_wiretapping_latest/ (last visted December 28, 2007)
^[2] Eric Lichtblau, James Risen and Scott Shane, Wider Spying Fuels Aid Plan for Telecom Industry, New York Times, December 16, 2007, available at http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/16/washington/16nsa.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1 (last visited December 28, 2007).
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] Leyden, supra note 1.
^[6] Lichtblau, et al, supra note 2.
^[7] Id.
^[8] Leyden, supra note 1.
^[9] Id.
^[10] Id.