USA Today Backs Off Initial NSA Story

USA Today backed off its NSA domestic spying story on Friday, saying it could not confirm the participation of either BellSouth or Verizon in the program. However, the company stood by its claim that AT&T was part of the program, saying second interviews with its sources as well as anonymous politicians confirmed the telecom's involvement.

The newspaper reported in May that the NSA has been collecting phone call records from AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth containing the phone calls of tens of millions of Americans. United States President Bush previously asserted that the spying only involved calls made to international destinations.

While part of the report cannot be confirmed, the paper said it was sticking with the story overall, and still believes the program exists. In a response to the retraction, BellSouth said USA Today's actions "speak for themselves" and again reiterated its denial of participation, now confirmed by anonymous members of Congress.

Verizon was also said to not have give the NSA access to its call records, however the company recently acquired MCI, which may have participated in the program, according to USA Today sources. While Verizon has denied its own involvement, it has not made any statements regarding MCI.

Five lawmakers are said to have confirmed AT&T's participation, which the company would not acknowledged other than saying it cooperates with law enforcement as needed. The company is involved in several lawsuits, with customers unhappy over what they see as a breach of privacy.

"Based on its reporting after the May 11 article, USA Today has now concluded that while the NSA has built a massive domestic calls record database involving the domestic call records of telecommunications companies, the newspaper cannot confirm that BellSouth or Verizon contracted with the NSA to provide bulk calling records to that database," the paper said in a second page note to its readers.

USA Today also stood up to critics and said its reporting of the program would not cease. "USA Today will continue to report on the contents and scope of the database as part of its ongoing coverage of national security and domestic surveillance," it wrote.