It's not often that I find myself in agreement with a Washington Post editorial:

On Thursday, USA Today reported that three U.S. telecommunications companies have been voluntarily providing the National Security Agency with anonymized domestic telephone records -- that is, records stripped of individually identifiable data, such as names and place of residence. If true, the architect of this program deserves our thanks and probably a medal. That architect was presumably Gen. Michael Hayden, former director of the NSA and President Bush's nominee to become director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Another curious little facet of what CBS chooses to describe as a "scandal" is the lack of information in the mainstream media about the Qwest chief executive who chose to thumb his nose at the NSA's request for anonymous calling data, Joseph Nacchio. While accounts describe Nacchio as the "former" CEO of Qwest, they tend not to mention why he left. This is why:

Washington, D.C., March 15, 2005 - The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged Joseph P. Nacchio, former co-chairman and chief executive officer of Qwest Communications International Inc., and eight other former Qwest officers and employees with fraud and other violations of the federal securities laws. In three separate but related civil actions, the Commission alleges that, between 1999 and 2002, the Qwest defendants engaged in a multi-faceted fraudulent scheme designed to mislead the investing public about the company's revenue and growth.

I still think there's a good chance, as I wrote earlier, that the "leak" of the NSA program was deliberate, and designed to force Democrats into the open with their unpopular opposition to lawful surveillance programs.

Cross-posted at The Dread Pundit Bluto, Stop the ACLU, and Vince Aut Morire.

Posted by: Bluto at 09:56 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
Post contains 322 words, total size 3 kb.