U.S. Government invokes "state secrets privilege":
U.S. Wants AT&T Lawsuit Dismissed On Security Grounds
Government says it will invoke "state secrets privilege" to withhold evidence in lawsuit over AT&T's role in NSA spy scheme.
By Reuters
April 29, 2006
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SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. government has asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a San Francisco civil liberties group against AT&T Corp. because it says the case could reveal military and state secrets.
The class-action suit by the group, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, on behalf of AT&T customers accuses the company of unlawful collaboration with the National Security Agency in its surveillance program to intercept telephone and e-mail communications between the United States and people linked to al Qaeda and affiliated organizations.
President Bush authorized the intercepts following the Sept. 11 attacks without court approval.
In a "Statement of Interest" filed Friday, the government asked U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker to throw out the suit, saying the government "cannot disclose any information that may be at issue in this case."
"The government intends to assert the military and state secrets privilege (that) permits the government to protect against the unauthorized disclosure in litigation of information that may harm national security interests," it said.
"In addition to asserting the state secrets privilege, the U.S. also intends to file a motion to intervene for the purpose of seeking dismissal of this case," the filing said.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a statement issued late Friday that "evidence regarding AT&T's dragnet surveillance of its networks, currently filed under seal, includes a declaration by Mark Klein, a retired AT&T telecommunications technician, and several internal AT&T documents."
The San Francisco Chronicle reported Saturday that Klein said the NSA installed a device at AT&T's San Francisco office in 2003 capable of scanning huge amounts of data to locate specific targets.
A representative of the Electronic Frontier Foundation was not available Saturday to discuss the case.
Its statement said much of the evidence in the case was under court seal because AT&T claims disclosure of the documents would expose trade secrets. A court hearing on the issue is scheduled for May 17.
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