Lawmakers: NSA database incomplete (USA Today)

Lawmakers: NSA database incomplete
Updated 6/30/2006 5:31 AM ET

WASHINGTON — Members of the House and Senate intelligence committees confirm
that the National Security Agency has compiled a massive database of domestic
phone call records. But some lawmakers also say that cooperation by the nation's
telecommunication companies was not as extensive as first reported by USA TODAY
on May 11.

Several lawmakers, briefed in secret by intelligence officials about the program
after the story was published, described a call records database that is enormous
but incomplete. Most asked that they not be identified by name, and many offered
only limited responses to questions, citing national security concerns.

In the May 11 article that revealed the database, USA TODAY reported that its
sources said AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon had agreed to provide the NSA with call
records.

Most members of the intelligence committees wouldn't discuss which companies
cooperated with the NSA. However, several did offer more information about the
program's breadth and scope, confirming some elements of USA TODAY's report and
contradicting others: