NSA has massive database of Americans' phone calls

USATODAY reported The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the arrangement told USA TODAY.

I am very happy that they are maintaining this database. If the Terrorist Surveillance Program of listening into international calls from known AlQaeda reveals an AlQaeda cell in the US, this will enable us to see who else they have been calling, and perhaps get domestic wiretap warents to listen in to those calls.

The NSA program reaches into homes and businesses across the nation by amassing information about the calls of ordinary Americans — most of whom aren't suspected of any crime. This program does not involve the NSA listening to or recording conversations. But the spy agency is using the data to analyze calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorist activity, sources said in separate interviews.

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