If a foreign intelligence service were to gain access to the phone-routing system and identify the targets of United States surveillance efforts it would be “a counterintelligence bonanza for adversaries of the nation and a security disaster for the United States”.
According to Michael Chertoff, working as a consultant for Neustar and a former head of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a report that national security concerns have been slighted in the contracting process. Without a fuller assessment of the risks posed in switching the contract to a European-based outfit, “security would become obsolete in the face of constantly morphing threats,” Chertoff said in the report.
The contractor that wins the bid to route US calls would essentially act as the air traffic controller for the nation’s phone system, which is run by private companies but is essentially overseen by the Government.
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