NSA Scandal UPDATE:

In a recent post, I postulated that the NSA data-mining of every phone call made in the US was b-ll-sh-t.

Tonight on Lou Dobbs Tonight on CNN, LD interviewed the former Director of the NSA and former Deputy Director of the CIA, Bobby Inman, who had helped develop the FISA laws in 1978.

LD: "Before we let you go, the issue of the NSA databank, the USA Today report--we've had disavowals of two of the telecommunications companies, Verizon and BellSouth saying that they had nothing to do with it, what's your reaction?"

Inman: "Lou, the direct answer is, I don't believe that such a database exists. I started thinking, what's the purpose of it? NSA has no access to driver's license information, financial information, the things that if you were trying to do an analytical job. They are collectors. What they need to know are telephone numbers from which calls are being made to foreign countries, where you might expect a return call. I don't believe a database exists. The country has been whipped into great excitement, and candidly, I think this is going to turn out to be for USA Today to be their version of WMD in Iraq."

LD: "And I think you've just put the burden on me to make sure that we get USA Today's response by tomorrow."

As I said, my DB2 roommate was insistent that such a database was possible and usable, no matter how much I argued it didn't exist, but I feel a little more vindicated now.

UPDATE: Not only was this not mentioned on Lou Dobbs Tonight the next day, it hasn't ever been mentioned again. So much for investigative reporting.