Maybe a little more research is in order.What? The NSA is 'running' your local telco operation? (They don't run ours and DIDN'T run our MTSO switch when I was with ATT WS in the 90's ... if you would get out of the basement and get a real job in the real world you would not believe all these 'ccok and bull' stories fed your way.)
Sheesh ... some of you ppl are 'off the planet'.
Find a REAL person at the REAL phone company and ask them those questions I gave you earlier ...
I've worked in this field and seen the hardware; 99.999% of you have not.
Now, wiretaps (an individual 'number') and monitoring trunk circuits en mass in and out of the country are a different matter ...
Since when is being a lineman a real job?