Wiretapping Flap Puts Phone Firms Under Fire

[SOURCE: Wall Street Journal, AUTHOR: Dionne Searcey at dionne.searcey@wsj.com and Shawn Young]
The public debate over the National Security Agency's wiretapping program has focused new attention at some telecommunications companies on how they handle classified business and requests from the government. While telecom executives aren't willing to talk publicly about any role their companies may have played in helping the NSA monitor electronic communications, senior officials at some big telecom companies say they wouldn't necessarily even be informed about such activities. That is because people who carry out secret work at phone companies at times have federal security clearances that are higher than those of their bosses. Telecom employees with security clearance have good reason not to respond to questions -- even from their bosses -- as they can be prosecuted if they violate the rules of government security status, telecom executives who have dealt with such situations say.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113927208033266657.html?mod=todays_us_ma...
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