US: Republican and Democratic congress members have called for an inquiry into a report that the National Security Agency is creating a massive database of every phone call made within the US.
USA Today reported yesterday that the agency has collected the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans from three of the country's biggest phone companies. The programme does not involve listening to calls or recording conversations, but intelligence sources told the paper that the agency uses the data to analyse calling patterns in an effort to detect terrorism.
President Bush declined to confirm or deny the report, while insisting that all NSA activity was within the law and directed at foreign terrorist groups.
"We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans. Our efforts are focused on links to al-Qaeda and their known affiliates. So far we've been very successful in preventing another attack on our soil," he said.
Senator Arlen Specter, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said he would call phone company executives before the committee to explain what was going on.
"We're really flying blind on the subject, and that's not a good way to approach the Fourth Amendment and the constitutional issues involving privacy."
Another Republican committee member, Lindsey Graham, questioned the value of collecting information about who is calling whom in the US.
USA Today said AT&T, Verizon and Bell South were providing the data and that only one major phone company, Qwest, had refused to co-operate.
Yesterday's revelation could create fresh problems for Gen Michael Hayden, Mr Bush's nominee as CIA chief, who would have authorised the surveillance programme when he led the NSA. Gen Hayden was already expected to face tough questions during his confirmation hearings about the NSA's programme of eavesdropping on some international calls without a warrant.
"It is long overdue for this Congress to end the days of roll over and rubber stamp and finally assert its power of advise and consent before Gen Hayden becomes director Hayden," Democratic senator John Kerry said.
The administration has until now insisted that NSA surveillance was limited to phone calls where at least one party was outside the US.
"It's the largest database ever assembled in the world," one source told USA Today.
Mr Bush condemned the leak and said the administration would do everything possible within the law to prevent another terrorist attack in the US.
"Every time sensitive intelligence is leaked, it hurts our ability to defeat this enemy."
