My money is on NSA, they are probably installing some data mining technology on the lines. If we capture the info there, and offshore the analysis to say, Diego Garcia, why would we need to consult Congress or get warrants?
Well said!
IF, and I say IF it was us tapping cables we would not have cut them and make people notice it. There are ways of tapping those cables that do not involve cutting it open, we used those on the Soviets and they never found out until a cable got cut by accident IIRC.