Washington, DC-  A USA Today article reports that the National Security Agency (NSA) has been secretly collecting phone records of tens of millions of Americans using information provided by America’s largest telephone companies including AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth.  In response to the disturbing new information about domestic spying Representative Edward J. Markey, the ranking Democrat on the House Telecommunications and Internet Subcommittee and a senior member of the Homeland Security Committee sent a letter to Dennis Hastert speaker of the House of Representatives raising questions about the connection between the reports of NSA phone record data bases and the sudden disappearance of the “Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act,” a bi-partisan bill that was scheduled for consideration on the floor of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, May 2, 2006.

The letter sent today states: “With no notice or explanation, H.R. 4943 summarily disappeared from the House floor schedule that day and it has not been seen or heard from since.  I am concerned about reports that some intelligence agency or interest had a hand in the bill’s disappearance. . . Is it currently in some legislative  ‘Guantanamo Bay?’”

The “Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act,” was introduced by Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe Barton (R-TX) and cosponsored by Representatives John Dingell (D-MI), Edward Markey (D-MA), Fred Upton (R-MI), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) and Cliff Stearns (R-FL).  It was developed after public hearings into how Americans’ telephone records were being sold on the Internet and the practices of telecommunications companies in safeguarding such sensitive telephone records and passed the House Energy and Commerce Committee unanimously.

Rep. Markey went on to express his concern about the missing bi-partisan bill and the new breaking information on phone record data bases reported today.

“Today’s report in USA Today raises disturbing new questions about the extent of the Bush Administration’s domestic surveillance program.  Last year, President Bush assured the American people that the warrantless wiretapping program was carefully targeted to capture only international communications into and out of the United States where at least one of the individuals involved was a suspected terrorist.  Now there is evidence that the NSA has essentially been vacuuming up huge volumes of calling data from a vast variety of sources, including millions of Americans with no suspected terrorist ties, and storing the information in what’s been dubbed ‘the largest database ever assembled in the world.’  I am concerned that this chilling revelation may now explain the sudden yanking of the 'Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act' from the House floor.  I will be calling for immediate hearings in the Energy and Commerce Committee to explore the connection between telecommunications carriers, which are reportedly supplying the calling information, and the NSA.  While the extent of this program is still unclear, it appears that its breathtaking scope would make George Orwell’s Big Brother look like an underachiever."

For a copy of the letter sent to Speaker Hastert see below or check out  http://markey.house.gov/

Copy of Letter to Speaker Hastert (5/11/06) Copy of Letter to Speaker Hastert (5/11/06) (93.22 KB)
Energy and Commerce Democrats' Letter to Chrm. Barton Energy and Commerce Democrats' Letter to Chrm. Barton (165.11 KB), 5/11/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 11, 2006

 

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Colin Crowell
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