Subject: responsibility
I countered with the observation that, by making the tapes available to the
government, the
companies had to know they were providing the wherewithal for the government to use
them
however it wanted. They had to bear some responsibility.
This comment caused Tordella's temper to flare for the first time during our
interview. The
companies were not responsible, he reiterated, they were just doing what the
government asked
them to do because they were assured it was important to national security. If their
role were
exposed by the Committee, it would subject them to embarrassment, if not lawsuits, and
it would
discourage other companies from cooperating with US intelligence for years to come.
excerpted from http://cryptome.org/nsa-shamrock.htm
at the poet's stash
