Feds may have sought surveillance before 9/11

WASHINGTON — Former Qwest Communications International Chief Executive Joseph Nacchio said the National Security Agency (NSA) approached Qwest more than six months before the Sept. 11 attacks about an unidentified NSA program, according to court documents unsealed this week.

Nacchio, who is appealing a conviction for insider trading, also said the government withdrew a $200 million contract after Qwest refused to participate in an NSA program the company's top lawyer said was illegal.

Details about the alleged NSA program have been removed from the documents, but Nacchio's lawyer said last year that the NSA had approached the company about participating in a warrantless-surveillance program to gather information about Americans' phone records.

In the court filings disclosed as part of his appeal this week in Denver, Nacchio — convicted in April of 19 counts of insider trading — suggests Qwest's refusal to take part in the NSA program led the government to cancel the $200 million contract in retribution.

He is using the allegation to try to show why his stock sale should not have been considered improper.

Nacchio was convicted of selling shares of Qwest stock in early 2001, just before financial problems caused the company's share price to tumble.

He has claimed in court papers that he had been optimistic Qwest would overcome weak sales because of the expected top-secret contract with the government.

Nacchio said he was forbidden to mention the specifics during the trial because of secrecy restrictions, but the judge ruled the issue was irrelevant to the charges against him.

Nacchio's account, which places the NSA proposal at a meeting on Feb. 27, 2001, suggests the Bush administration was seeking to enlist telecommunications firms in programs without court oversight before the terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

The Sept. 11 attacks have been cited by the government as the main impetus for its warrantless-surveillance efforts.

The allegations could affect the debate on Capitol Hill over whether Qwest and other telecoms should be given immunity for disclosing customers' phone records to the government after the Sept. 11 attacks, even if they did not have court authorization for doing so.

Spokesmen for the Justice Department, the NSA, the White House and the director of national intelligence declined to comment.

Federal filings in the appeal have not been disclosed.

In May 2006, USA Today reported that the NSA had been secretly collecting the phone-call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by major telecommunications firms.

Qwest, it reported, declined to participate because of fears the program lacked legal standing.

In a statement released after the story was published, Nacchio attorney Herbert Stern said that in fall 2001, Qwest was approached to give the government access to the private phone records of Qwest customers.

Stern could not be reached for comment Friday.

A lawyer for Nacchio, Jeffrey Speiser, declined to comment on whether the call-records program was the program discussed at the February 2001 meeting.