U.S. Officers' "Phone Sex" Intercepted; Senate Demanding Answers
By BRIAN ROSS, VIC WALTER, and ANNA SCHECTER

Oct. 9, 2008—

Despite pledges by President George W. Bush and American intelligence officials to the contrary, hundreds of US citizens overseas have been eavesdropped on as they called friends and family back home, according to two former military intercept operators who worked at the giant National Security Agency (NSA) center in Fort Gordon, Georgia.

Following public fears and concerns over privacy, Democrats have submitted a bill that would curtail the Department of Homeland Security's policy of seizing laptops at U.S. borders and demanding access to every file on the hard drive. The bill, dubbed the Travelers Privacy Protection Act, was introduced by Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA), and Representative Adam Smith (D-WA), and is aimed at stopping what they see as "a gross violation of privacy."