The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting call traffic data for most telephones in the United States, without warrants, since shortly after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to reports published Thursday.

USA TODAY reported that under secret agreements with AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, those companies turned over to NSA billions of call detail records of their subscribers, meaning the telephone number dialed and duration of the call. While the contents of the calls were not monitored, the records included purely domestic calls, originating and terminating within the United States.

Only Qwest refused to participate in the scheme, citing legal concerns.

Sources told USA TODAY that almost every call passing through AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth networks would have been submitted to NSA under the program. Far more expansive than anything previously known, the program uses data mining techniques to analyze these billions of telephone call records to locate signs of potential terrorist activity.

With access to records of billions of domestic calls, the NSA has gained a secret window into the communications habits of millions of Americans. Customers’ names, street addresses and other personal information are not being handed over as part of NSA’s domestic program, the sources said. But the phone numbers the NSA collects can easily be cross-checked with other databases to obtain that information. — USA TODAY

In December, the New York Times revealed the existence of a so-called terrorist surveillance program authorized by President George W. Bush to eavesdrop on calls to and from suspected terrorists and people associated with them which either originate or terminate in the United States.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has filed a lawsuit against AT&T for its role in the terrorist surveillance program, which EFF says is illegal, and the government has said it will use the state secrets privilege to shut down the lawsuit.

Regarding Thursday’s revelation, EFF staff attorney Kurt Opsahl said: “AT&T should have done what Qwest apparently did — ask the goverment to come back with a warrant.”

Holy mother of Gawd.