Bush: Spy Program Isn’t ‘Mining’ Private Info

http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/20060511_bush_spy_program/

Posted on May 11, 2006

“We’re not mining or trolling though the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,’’ Bush says, without directly addressing the NSA program reported in USA Today.

Meanwhile, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter demands that phone company executives testify before Congress about the data they provided to the NSA.

Bloomberg:

May 11—President George W. Bush defended the collection of U.S. phone call data and said the government is ``fiercely’’ protecting the privacy of ordinary citizens.

``We’re not mining or trolling though the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans,’’ Bush said before departing Washington to give a commencement address in Mississippi. Collection of data about communications inside the U.S. is a part of efforts to prevent another terrorist attack.

Bush’s made the unscheduled remarks after USA Today reported that said AT&T Inc., BellSouth Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. secretly provided the phone records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency. The agency, which collects and interprets electronic intelligence, has compiled a massive database with the information, the newspaper reported.

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