Joseph Nacchio, the former CEO of Quest Communications, claimed in a court filing last week that the NSA approached his company six months before September 11th about participating in the government’s secretive warrantless wiretapping program. Nacchio says the government withdrew hundreds of millions in contracts after Quest refused to cooperate. And, as Threat Level points out, Quest wasn’t the only telecom targeted by the new Bush administration; AT&T had budgeted for an NSA room with full access to customer records also before 9/11. (Washington Post, Wired)
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=179623