Report says NSA eavesdropping larger than White House account - The Boston Globe

Report says NSA eavesdropping larger than White House account - The Boston Globe: "Report says NSA eavesdropping larger than White House account

By Reuters | December 25, 2005

NEW YORK -- The volume of information gathered from telephone and Internet communications by the National Security Agency without court-approved warrants was much larger than the White House has acknowledged, The New York Times reported yesterday.
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Citing current and former government officials, the Times said the information was collected by tapping directly into some of the US telecommunication system's main arteries. The officials said the NSA won the cooperation of telecommunications companies to obtain access to both domestic and international communications without first gaining warrants.

A former telecommunications technology manager told the Times that industry leaders have been storing information on calling patterns and giving it to the federal government to aid in tracking possible terrorists.

Government and industry officials with knowledge of the program told the newspaper the NSA sought to analyze communications patterns to gather clues from details like who is calling whom, how long a phone call lasts, and what time of day it is made."