A Database of "Every Call Ever Made"

"Today, there are new claims about other ways we are tracking down al Qaeda to prevent attacks on America," Bush said.The government does not listen to domestic phone calls without court approval. Third, the intelligence activities I authorized are lawful and have been briefed to appropriate members of Congress, both Republican and Democrat." But read below, you will see Bush is wrong about this...

A source told USA Today that the NSA's goal was to "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders. For the customers of the three top phone companies — which provide local and wireless phone service to more than 200 million Americans — that means that since shortly after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the government has compiled detailed records of calls they made across town or the country to family members, co-workers, business contacts and others, according to the paper.

While the White House has said the warrantless wiretap program was focused on identifying and tracking terror suspects by eavesdropping on calls and e-mails made into the U.S. by suspected terrorists, the domestic program described by USA Today's sources is far wider than the Bush administration has acknowledged.

Just hours after the story broke, Bush gave a terse press conference in which he again defended the practice without mentioning the USA Today story. He stressed that the NSA is not "mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans."