May 11, 2006

The Honorable Joe Barton
Chairman
House Committee on Energy and Commerce
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

The Honorable Ed Whitfield
Chairman
Subcommittee on Oversights and Investigations
U.S. House of Representatives
Washington, DC  20515

Dear Mr. Chairmen:

Today’s USA Today report that major telephone carriers have been providing the call records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency (NSA) raises significant privacy and civil liberty concerns.  The phone records NSA has collected through this program reportedly involve calls from callers within the United States to other customers inside the country.  This is particularly disturbing given the Administration’s previous assurances that its electronic eavesdropping was limited to instances in which one of the monitored parties was outside the United States.  

The scope of this program should not be minimized.  The telecommunication companies that have reportedly contracted to give NSA this information provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million customers.   USA Today estimated that NSA has provided data on tens of millions of customers. 

Given its jurisdiction over telecommunications issues, the House Energy and Commerce Committee has an important oversight role to play in examining how the major telephone companies participate in this program. 

I would therefore ask that the Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations immediately convene hearings and utilize its powers of subpoena to determine the extent of involvement by the various companies.  Among other questions, this probe should examine:

• How much money were Verizon, AT&T, BellSouth and SBC each paid to participate in this program?

• For how many subscribers did these companies turn over data to the NSA?

• On how many occasions and how regularly did each company transmit or otherwise provide caller information to the NSA?

• What type of information did these companies provides the NSA for each caller? 

• How did NSA induce these companies to participate?  What compensation or contracts has each company received in exchange for participation?

• Was it ever suggested implicitly or explicitly that companies refusing to participate might be penalized?

• By participating in this program, did these companies violate Section 222 of the Communications Act, which prohibits sharing information from customers’ records?

• Did any other telecommunications providers participate in the program?

Mr. Chairman, this Committee has a longstanding history of protecting consumers’ privacy in the marketplace and the Bells have their own tradition of making customer privacy paramount.  As the major wireless and telephone operators now appear to have reneged on this tradition, it is incumbent upon the Committee to step forward, examine these issues in the light of day and determine whether legislative remedies are necessary to protect the privacy of American citizens. 

Sincerely,

BART STUPAK
Member of Congress