Senators Press for NSA Spying Details

Two prominent Democratic senators who are also outspoken critics of the NSA's domestic wiretapping program have asked three major telecommunications companies to explain their involvement in the effort.

One of the companies, AT&T, has been sued by the Electronic Frontier Foundation for complying with a request to open its network to the NSA.

Senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts said in a letter to the chief executives of AT&T, Sprint Nextel and Verizon Communications that "understanding your company's participation in the NSA's domestic surveillance program is critical to congressional oversight efforts."

The Senators asked the companies to provide all information and records related to topics surrounding the surveillance program from September 11, 2001 to the present. They also said if the companies believed they could not answer the Senator's questions on legal grounds, they were to inform as to why -- and who said -- they could not.

Among the questions posed to the three companies were whether or not they were misled into believing the government had a right to request these wiretaps; had any government official provided written verification that all requirements for domestic surveillance had been met; and whether any official said it was not necessary to fulfill those requirements.

In addition, the Senators inquired as to the company's response to those requests; how many individuals have been monitored; if the companies are continuing to participate in the program; and if the companies were asked to peform actions that broke customer agreements, tariffs or state or federal laws.

A reply has been requested by February 17 so that the findings could be incorporated into a continuation of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the matter scheduled to occur later this month.

"As you know, wiretap orders under the Wiretap Act or the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) are usually required before the government may intercept the domestic or international calls of individuals in the United States," the letter read.

So far, none of the companies have commented publicly on their involvement, with AT&T saying it was a matter of "national security."