It does not appear that this includes tapping the phones - it appears that this was just gathering the call records. That is, what numbers were called by the reporters, what numbers called them, how long the calls lasted, etc. And that is bad enough...
“It does not appear that this includes tapping the phones”
Until you remember that all phone calls and texts are captured for by the NSA for government access.
This was all that was being done to tract terrorist cells as well and the MSM screamed bloody murder...
Recall that Echelon records and archives every electronic communication. Land lines, email, cell phone, etc. Forever. If someone is identified, all their communications can be retrieved. Future calls can be tagged for review, either by software or human intervention.
It used to be that our benevolent government would “have” to ask the Canadians, Brits, or Aussies if they had anything on so-and-so in their files. Maintain deniability, so to speak – ‘hell no, we’re not spying on Americans!’ Foreign nationals would retrieve and forward the requested information. I suspect the keyan commie has dispensed with that step.