Posted on 04/08/2015 7:38:20 PM PDT by Citizen Zed
The program also allowed agents to monitor calls the ruled out the possibility of foreign ties to the 1995 bombing of the Oklahoma City federal building by American Timothy McVeigh.
The program only recently shuttered, and was used for nearly two decades, with top Justice Department officials in four administrations - George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama - approving the data collections.
The data collection did not however allow DEA investigators access to the actual content of calls, just the numbers dialed and time of the calls were all recorded.
A 1998 request for Sprint to release their call records to the program labeled it as 'one of the most important and effective Federal drug law enforcement initiatives.'
The program was eventually halted not because it had run its course, but rather out of fear for public response should the details be revealed.
That decision came from Attorney General Eric Holder in September 2013, just months after Edward Snowden began systematically releasing classified information he obtained while working at the NSA, most notably documents that detailed the agency's reach, which while viewed by some as crucial and necessary, was seen by many as an Orwellian nightmare, specifically as it pertained to the freedoms and allowances the agency had been granted when it came to spying on Americans.
The DEA confirmed this, and they now send subpoenas on a daily basis to telephone companies to obtain records.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
FYI, if you make a phone call in this country, you should have no doubts that it will be recorded.
The guy or machine who listens to my calls will be very bored.
The list, Ping
Let me know if you would like to be on or off the ping list
1992.
IOW, Bush’s fault.
Can you hear me now?
like ya could back then *-?
Except it actually is a Bush’s fault...this time...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.