Specter, At&T chief clash over phone spying

From the Western Star:

A Senate hearing intended to explore the consumer impact of a proposed AT&T-BellSouth merger instead turned into a contentious face-off over phone privacy Thursday.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., asked AT&T Inc. chairman and chief executive Ed Whitacre whether his company had turned over phone records to any law enforcement agency. The question stemmed from his concerns about a report last month in the newspaper USA Today involving the National Security Agency's (NSA) use of phone records.

"The privacy of our customers is utmost (in importance) and we follow the law," Whitacre replied.

The senator repeatedly asked for a fuller explanation, but Whitacre only said again and again that "we follow the law."

Specter, appearing increasingly impatient, said, "I think that answer is contemptuous of this committee."

Suggesting more hearings would follow, he told Whitacre, "you and I will talk about this further."

Earlier this month, Specter reached a deal with Vice President Dick Cheney to head off a possible confrontation between the Senate and administration over the issue.

Cheney, a key player in overseeing NSA surveillance efforts, promised the White House would consider supporting Specter's legislation to place a domestic surveillance program under the watch of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a special federal court.

For his part, Specter agreed to indefinitely postpone subpoenas or public hearings into the issue. But Thursday, with the phone executives present, he said he couldn't resist "raising an issue which is very much on my mind and on the minds of many people."

Specter is part of the problem because when push comes to shove he always backs down. The only way any thorough investigations of the Bush administration will be done is if the Democrats get subpoena power by winning back the House and/or Senate in November. Then maybe we'll get some oversight of the Bush administration.