Judge in Qwset case: The claims, after all, sound like they're about a totalitarian regime

http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_7166286

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"At least seven months prior to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, defendant AT&T began development of a center for monitoring long-distance calls and Internet transactions ... for the exclusive use of the NSA," the lawsuit reads. "Said data center would enable the NSA to tap any phone line and to monitor any digital transfer of information on AT&T's networks. ... The NSA program was code-named Pioneer-Groundbreaker."

Did the NSA want to install a Groundbreaker at Qwest? Did Nacchio just say no? And is this why the government pulled back its business from Qwest and targeted him for prosecution?

These questions were never raised in Nacchio's trial because the answers are likely classified. In closed pretrial hearings, Judge Edward Nottingham ruled that Nacchio's attorneys could present this story but would have to substitute different names to protect the identities of four secret agencies involved. Instead of the NSA, for instance, witnesses would have to say the ABC or the DEF.

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The judge also seemed incredulous that secret government agencies can order up hundred-million-dollar telecommunications networks, or set up secret monitoring stations, on a whim. The claims, after all, sound like they're about a totalitarian regime with no Constitution.

"There is a quality about this that is almost fictional," Nottingham said. "Do these things really happen without congressional oversight? ... With large pots of money that nobody in the Congress really appropriates to a specific program? ... Do they really occur with this little control? ... Do we do things like this on a handshake basis without any bidding?"

"Your honor summarized it perfectly," said Stern.