Terrorism
US Reportedly Listened in on Intimate Phone Calls of Citizens Abroad
Posted Oct 10, 2008, 06:31 am CDT
By Debra Cassens Weiss
Two former linguists with the National Security Agency say their one-time employer improperly listened to intimate telephone conversations of members of the U.S. military, aid workers and journalists stationed overseas.
The two linguists, who worked as military intercept officers, told ABC News that some of the NSA employees monitoring the calls of U.S. citizens to family and friends in the United States sometimes shared the recordings with each other.
“These were just really everyday, average, ordinary Americans who happened to be in the Middle East, in our area of intercept and happened to be making these phone calls on satellite phones," one of the linguists, Adrienne Kinne, told ABC.
Another linguist, David Murphee Faulk, recalled how the employees sometimes reacted to the conversations that would be available on workers’ computers. “Hey, check this out," he would be told. "There's good phone sex or there's some pillow talk--pull it up, it's really funny."
An NSA spokesman said some of the allegations were unsubstantiated and others were under investigation, the Washington Post reports. The agency is permitted to eavesdrop on conversations of U.S. employees in war zones. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller said he may hold hearings on the issue.
Related Stories
- July 11, 1921
July 2009 Issue - 150 Lawyers Protest Firing of Government Watchdog
Jul 1, 2009, 05:17 am CDT - How N.Y. Times Pretty Much Kept Reporter’s Kidnapping Off Wikipedia
Jun 29, 2009, 04:43 pm CDT - Report: Edwards Set as Obama VP or AG, Prior to News of Affair
Jun 29, 2009, 02:44 pm CDT
Related Topics
Add Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.