U.S. Sues to Stop Probe of Call Data

The U.S. government has sued a New Jersey official to stop an inquiry into whether phone companies gave the National Security Agency customer information without a warrant.

State Atty. Gen. Zulima Farber lacked the authority to subpoena carriers including AT&T; Inc. for the information, said the suit, filed Wednesday in Trenton, N.J. Farber demanded the information May 17, six days after USA Today reported that the NSA used company information to create a phone record database on millions of Americans in an effort to detect terrorists.

“Compliance with the subpoenas issued by those officers would first place the carriers in a position of having to confirm or deny the existence of information that cannot be confirmed or denied without causing exceptionally grave harm to national security,” the U.S. complaint says.

Farber sought to find out whether the companies broke New Jersey consumer-protection laws in giving information to the government, the U.S. says. Since January, more than 20 suits have been filed that claim phone companies unlawfully helped the NSA.

“We intend to respond to the federal government’s complaint in court,” said David Wald, a spokesman for Farber.

In addition to AT&T;, the government said Farber subpoenaed Verizon Communications Inc., Qwest Communications International Inc., Sprint Nextel Corp. and Cingular Wireless. The companies also were named as defendants in the U.S. government suit.

“The filing underscores the fact that the federal government and not companies have control over and responsibility for national security issues,” AT&T; spokesman Walt Sharp said. He had no further comment.

Peter Thonis, a spokesman for Verizon, confirmed that the company had received a subpoena from Farber. He declined to comment further.

Qwest spokesman Robert Toevs said the company didn’t comment on national security matters.

Sprint Nextel spokeswoman Leigh E. Horner said the company disclosed customer data only “when necessary to comply with the law.” She said the company had no comment on the NSA or intelligence gathering “due to the sensitive nature of the topics.”

Mark Siegel, a spokesman for Cingular Wireless, a joint venture of AT&T; and BellSouth Corp., said, “As a matter of policy, we don’t comment on matters involving national security.”

The U.S. government, which hasn’t confirmed the existence of the call-data program, wants a judge to rule that the subpoenas are unenforceable because Farber lacks authority to inquire into confidential federal anti-terrorism programs. “The federal government also has an absolute privilege to protect military and state secrets from exposure,” the complaint says.