Senate Won't Quiz Telecoms about NSA Spying

SENATE WON'T QUIZ TELECOMS ABOUT NSA SPYING
[SOURCE: C-Net|News.com, AUTHOR: Anne Broache]
Sen Arlen Specter (R-PA) said that after discussions with the Bush administration and Senate Intelligence Committee colleagues who had been more fully briefed on the National Security Agency program, he was "prepared to defer on a temporary basis" requiring representatives from AT&T, Verizon Communications and BellSouth to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he leads. He had promised to organize such a hearing after USA Today reported last month that the nation's three leading telecom companies had opened up their lines to the NSA. (Some of those companies have since denied their participation.) He said Tuesday that the companies voiced willingness to discuss the topic in a closed session but wouldn't be able to reveal classified information, a stance he found "insufficient and unacceptable." Sen Specter said he was willing to suspend the inquiry largely because Vice President Dick Cheney had provided assurances that the White House would be more receptive to pending legislation -- including a proposal chiefly backed by Specter himself -- that would send the existing NSA program and all future surveillance plans to a special court for review of their constitutionality. Sen Sen. Dianne Feinstein -- an Intelligence Committee member who said she'd been briefed "very thoroughly" on the program -- said she agreed with Chairman Specter's decision. "I don't know what would be served by issuing a subpoena here," she said. "It seems to me that the Intelligence Committee, having reviewed that program, knows what questions to ask, and they cannot be asked in open session." She did suggest, however, that the Intelligence Committee bring in the telecom company representatives for its own private round of questioning.
http://news.com.com/Senate+wont+quiz+telecoms+about+NSA+spying/2100-1028...

* Senators won't grill phone companies
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20060607/a_nsa07.art.htm