py Agency Sought U.S. Call Records Before 9/11, Lawyers Say

June 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. National Security Agency asked AT&T
Inc. to help it set up a domestic call monitoring site seven months
before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, lawyers claimed June 23 in court
papers filed in New York federal court.

The allegation is part of a court filing adding AT&T, the nation's
largest telephone company, as a defendant in a breach of privacy case
filed earlier this month on behalf of Verizon Communications Inc. and
BellSouth Corp. customers. The suit alleges that the three carriers,
the NSA and President George W. Bush violated the Telecommunications
Act of 1934 and the U.S. Constitution, and seeks money damages.

``The Bush Administration asserted this became necessary after
9/11,'' plaintiff's lawyer Carl Mayer said in a telephone interview.
``This undermines that assertion.''

The lawsuit is related to an alleged NSA program to record and store
data on calls placed by subscribers. More than 30 suits have been
filed over claims that the carriers, the three biggest U.S. telephone
companies, violated the privacy rights of their customers by
cooperating with the NSA in an effort to track alleged terrorists.

``The U.S. Department of Justice has stated that AT&T may neither
confirm nor deny AT&T's participation in the alleged NSA program
because doing so would cause `exceptionally grave harm to national
security' and would violate both civil and criminal statutes,'' AT&T
spokesman Dave Pacholczyk said in an e-mail.

U.S. Department of Justice spokesman Charles Miller and NSA spokesman
Don Weber declined to comment.

More at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=abIV0cO64zJE


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