On Monday, BellSouth issued a statement denying that it passed bulk phone records of its customers to the National Security Agency, joining Verizon, which issued a denial Friday. AT&T has yet to issue a denial of the allegations.

BellSouth “conducted an internal review to determine the facts. Based on our review to date, we have confirmed no such contract exists and we have not provided bulk customer calling records to the NSA,” the statement read.

Wait a minute, what contract?

BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said the company was not asking for a correction from USA TODAY.

Asked to define “bulk customer calling records,” Battcher said: “We are not providing any information to the NSA, period.” He said he did not know whether BellSouth had a contract with the Department of Defense, which oversees the NSA. — USA TODAY

This isn’t the sort of program where the phone company would sign a contract at all. Indeed, it’s one which would, to the greatest extent possible, be kept entirely off the books, for security reasons.

This story is getting stranger and stranger by the day.

While Verizon and BellSouth have issued denials, they are of the non-denial denial variety. BellSouth said it hasn’t signed a contract. Verizon said that it “does not, and will not, provide any government agency unfettered access to our customer records or provide information to the government under circumstances that would allow a fishing expedition.”

AT&T has been even more circumspect, saying little.

In no case does the denial quite exactly match the allegations, however.

Even more strange, as I’ve noted previously, is the complete lack of public outcry over this program. BellSouth spokesman Jeff Battcher said that out of its 20 million customers, the company had only received 26 complaints about the program.