[okie01]

If one is investigating leaks, what would be the purpose of only tracking phone numbers and not phone conversations? You can bet these conversations were recorded.

They sought the phone records after the fact. There was no way they could be tapped.

[Jet Jaguar]

I disagree.

Most every call is digitized and then stored.

If you know the time and date and number, you could access the conversation.

You would have to have access to the records and access to the data.

[9YearLurker]

If they or a friendly foreign government does in fact massively. record phone conversations howeve, there is the possibility of going in to get recording level calls, once they have been identified, after the fact.