Who's watching the watcher? FCC declines investigation of NSA phone records controversy

[Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers@xxxxxxxxx>]

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

FCC declines investigation of NSA phone records controversy
James M Yoch Jr at 7:20 PM ET
http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2006/05/fcc-declines-investigation-of-nsa.php

[JURIST] US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) [official website]
Chairman Kevin Martin [official profile] has written [press release] a
letter [PDF] to US Rep. Edward Markey (D-MA) [official website] saying
that the watchdog agency will not investigate the collection of millions
of phone records [JURIST report] by the National Security Agency (NSA)
[official website]. In the letter, dated Monday, Martin contends that
the FCC cannot perform an effective investigation because it does not
have access to classified government documents. Martin's comments
responded to a letter [PDF] from Markey urging the agency to launch a
probe into the alleged program. Last week, one of the four other FCC
commissioners, Michael J. Copps [official profile], said the FCC should
investigate [JURIST report].

Since the controversial report that several prominent US phone companies
turned over domestic customers' call records, Verizon and BellSouth have
denied involvement [JURIST report] in the program, although AT&T has
neither confirmed nor denied its participation. Earlier this year, the
US Justice Department dropped its probe [JURIST report] into the role
its own lawyers played in the NSA domestic surveillance program [JURIST
news archive] because the agency would not give the DOJ security
clearances.
Reuters has more.