Hayden Gets Defensive

My Way News - CIA Nominee Hayden Defends NSA Programs:

Meanwhile, a lawyer for former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio confirmed that the government approached that company in the fall of 2001 seeking access to the phone records of Qwest customers, with neither a warrant nor approval from a special court established to handle surveillance matters.

'Mr. Nacchio concluded that these requests violated the privacy requirements of the Telecommunications Act,' attorney Herbert J. Stern said in a written statement from his Newark, N.J., office.

Nacchio told Qwest officials to refuse the NSA requests, which kept coming until Nacchio left the company in June 2002, Stern said.

In contrast, AT&T Corp., Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ) and BellSouth Corp. (BLS) complied with the government's request to turn over phone records shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, USA Today reported on Thursday.

And it's not like Nacchio is any straight-shooting, law-abiding, by-the-book CEO! He's got his own ethical challenges to face. So if he didn't think it was legal, and the NSA didn't challenge that decision, well, it sure smells like a duck....