WASHINGTON, DC (KNX) -- The story broken by USA Today yesterday about massive mining of the private phone records of millions of Americans has created a bipartisan firestorm on Capitol Hill.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) vowed to haul telephone companies before his committee under oath to ferret out details the Bush administration refuses to supply, and more than 50 House Democrats signed a letter demanding a criminal investigation by a special counsel.

In the House, Representatives Jane Harman (D-CA) and John Conyers (D-MI) immediately introduced a joint bill to kill the gargantuan database of U.S. citizens' phone records.

The measure would require any attempt to easvesdrop on Americans or collect telephone or e-mail records to be be conducted in accordance with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA), or Title III of the criminal code. In both cases, court warrants based on probable cause are required. The legislation states that FISA is the exclusive way to conduct electronic surveillance of U.S. persons on U.S. soil for intelligence purposes.
Gumby Reviewed by Gumby on . Report: NSA Has Call Data On Millions WASHINGTON, May 11, 2006 (AP / CBS) (CBS/AP) The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, a newspaper reports Thursday. The government has amassed detailed records of calls of ordinary Americans â??across town or across the country â?? to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others, according to a USA TODAY report. Rating: 5