Are all telephone calls recorded and accessible to the US government?

[Fire Walk With Me]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/04/telephone-calls-recorded-fbi-boston

"BURNETT: Tim, is there any way, obviously, there is a voice mail they can try to get the phone companies to give that up at this point. It's not a voice mail. It's just a conversation. There's no way they actually can find out what happened, right, unless she tells them?

CLEMENTE: "No, there is a way. We certainly have ways in national security investigations to find out exactly what was said in that conversation. It's not necessarily something that the FBI is going to want to present in court, but it may help lead the investigation and/or lead to questioning of her. We certainly can find that out.

BURNETT: "So they can actually get that? People are saying, look, that is incredible.

CLEMENTE: "No, welcome to America. All of that stuff is being captured as we speak whether we know it or like it or not."

"All of that stuff" - meaning every telephone conversation Americans have with one another on US soil, with or without a search warrant - "is being captured as we speak".

On Thursday night, Clemente again appeared on CNN, this time with host Carol Costello, and she asked him about those remarks. He reiterated what he said the night before but added expressly that "all digital communications in the past" are recorded and stored:

(More at the link. Hi Agent Mike! Why not arrest some BANKSTERS?)

[leveymg]

1. Driftnet wiretaps that cover entire metropolitan areas are conducted by most domestic telcos

The NSA rules of retention were changed years ago so that all this stuff now gets stored away for later retrieval by US IC agencies looking at specific persons of interest. Most US person data collected used to be "minimized" (erased) after a set period of time.

Also, any signal that bounces across the border (even if both parties are domestic) is also subject to capture and retrieval. That also has been the case for years.

[Downwinder]

2. I assume so.

[limpyhobbler]

3. jeez I hope everyone reads this. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

4. enough recs and people here will.

After the public outrage against "Total Information Awareness" of early Bush days, they just did the snooping in secret.

Hell, a LOT of gov't actions against us are in secret, which is one reason there is a huge public legal threat against whistleblowers.

[hootinholler]

5. No shit on the Banksters!

This has been true and battled without success in the secret court. Hell Congress passed a ex post facto (I probably screwed the pooch on that term) law allowing the big slurp as I call it.

[snagglepuss]

6. Subj line misleading. Should read all digital phone calls, land line calls aren't caught up in this.

That said. This is still appalling.

[sabrina 1]

7. But they couldn't keep track of an actual threat to society even after being warned, twice, about

him, by Russia?? So are they listening in on people ordering pizza for dinner rather than on someone who has been reported as a threat by another government?

What a screwed up country this is now. I wonder if it can be saved at this point?