Case M:06-cv-01791-VRW Document 365 Filed 08/29/2007 Page 1 of 9

1 PETER D. KEISLER
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division
2 CARL J. NICHOLS
Deputy Assistant Attorney General
3 DOUGLAS N. LETTER
Terrorism Litigation Counsel
4 JOSEPH H. HUNT
Director, Federal Programs Branch
5 ANTHONY J. COPPOLINO
Special Litigation Counsel
6 ANDREW H. TANNENBAUM
ALEXANDER K. HAAS (SBN 220932)
7 Trial Attorneys
Email: [email protected]
8 U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch
9 20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Rm. 6102
Washington, D.C. 20001
10 Phone: (202) 514-4782
Fax: (202) 616-8460
11 Attorneys for the United States of America
12
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
13
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
14
SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION
15
) No. M:06-cv-01791-VRW
16 IN RE NATIONAL SECURITY AGENCY )
TELECOMMUNICATIONS RECORDS ) RESPONSE OF THE UNITED STATES
17 LITIGATION ) TO PLAINTIFFS’ SUPPLEMENTAL
) REQUESTS FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE
18 _______________________________________) [Dkts. 356 & 363]
)
19 This Document Relates To: ) Hon. Vaughn R. Walker
) Date: August 30, 2007
20 (1) All Actions Against the MCI and Verizon ) Time: 2:00 p.m.
Defendants in the Master MCI and Verizon ) Courtroom: 6
21 Consolidated Complaint, Dkt. 125; (2) Bready )
v. Verizon Maryland (06-06313); (3) Chulsky v. )
22 Cellco Partnership d/b/a/ Verizon Wireless (06- )
06570); (4) Riordan v. Verizon Communications )
23 (06-03574). )
_______________________________________)
24
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1 RESPONSE OF THE UNITED STATES TO

PLAINTIFFS’ SUPPLEMENTAL REQUESTS FOR JUDICIAL NOTICE
2
The United States hereby respectfully responds to Plaintiffs’ first and second
3
supplemental requests for judicial notice concerning an interview given by the Director of
4
National Intelligence (“DNI”), congressional testimony of the Attorney General and FBI
5
Director, letters from the Attorney General and DNI to Members of Congress, and an interview
6
given by a Member of Congress.
7
THE STATEMENTS CITED BY PLAINTIFFS DO NOT CONFIRM ANY OF THE
8 ALLEGATIONS AT ISSUE IN THIS CASE
9 The United States has no objection to judicial notice of the fact that the statements in the
10 letters and testimony cited by Plaintiffs were made, or that the statements in the two news articles
11 were reported. We do, however, disagree with Plaintiffs’ characterization of those statements
12 and their impact on this case. As explained below, the statements in question do not detract from
13 the Government’s arguments that this action cannot be litigated without disclosing state secrets.
14 In particular, the statements do not confirm Plaintiffs’ allegations of a telephone records program
15 or a content surveillance dragnet, nor do they confirm that Verizon or MCI assisted with such
16 alleged activities. The statements also provide no basis to publicly adjudicate Plaintiffs’ standing
17 or the merits of their claims.
18 A. Statements by the Attorney General and Director of National Intelligence
19 First, Plaintiffs contend that, in a passing reference by the Attorney General in lengthy
20 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as an interview with the DNI published
21 in the El Paso Times on August 22, 2007, the Government has admitted that “the defendant
22 telecommunications companies in this MDL proceeding” assisted “in the Government’s
23 warrantless surveillance and interception activities.” Plaintiffs’ Second Supplemental Request
24 for Judicial Notice at 2. Even more specifically, Plaintiffs claim that the Government has
25 confirmed that the assistance was provided in “the programs at issue” in this litigation.
26 Plaintiffs’ Supplemental Request for Judicial Notice (“Pl. Supp. Req.”) at 3.
27 The statements cited by Plaintiffs, however, are far too general to have the impact on
28 these cases that Plaintiffs suggest. The Attorney General, for example, simply stated that
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1 unspecified “companies” have “provided help in trying to protect this country.” Pl. Supp. Req.,
2 Exhibit A, at 50.1 As even Plaintiffs concede, the Attorney General did not identify any company
3 by name, much less state that one of the unidentified “companies” was Verizon or MCI. See Pl.
4 Supp. Req. at 3 (asserting that the statement “strongly suggested” that the “companies” include
5 Verizon and MCI) (emphasis added).2 Nor did the Attorney General state what type of help such
6 companies may have provided, much less indicate that any company assisted the Government
7 with the specific alleged intelligence activities at issue in these cases or confirm the existence of
8 such alleged activities—i.e., (1) an alleged content surveillance dragnet involving the
9 interception of “all or a substantial number of the communications transmitted through
10 [Verizon/MCI’s] key domestic telecommunications facilities,” Master Verizon Compl. ¶ 168,
11 and (2) an alleged telephone records program pursuant to which Verizon and MCI provided the
12 NSA with call records “of all or substantially all of [its] customers” since October 2001, id.
13 ¶ 169.
14 The DNI’s statement quoted by Plaintiffs also does not reveal any information that is
15 relevant to Plaintiffs’ claims in these cases. At most, the DNI stated that unnamed private
16 companies had assisted with the Terrorist Surveillance Program (i.e., the interception of one-end
17 foreign communications involving a member or agent of al Qaeda or an affiliated terrorist
18 organization) and “were being sued.” But like the Attorney General, the DNI did not confirm
19 any specific intelligence-gathering relationship between the Government and any specific
20
21
1
The statement was made in response to an objection by Senator Feingold that the
22 Government has “refuse[d]” to publicly disclose who “cooperate[d] with the government” in
“unidentified intelligence activities” in seeking enactment of an “immunity” provision for
23
intelligence activities. Pl. Supp. Req., Exhibit A, at 50 (emphasis added).
24 2
The general nature of the reference to “companies” is underscored by the immunity
25 provision in the draft bill that prompted the exchange. The draft provision would grant immunity
to “any person for the alleged provision to an element of the intelligence community of any
26
information (including records or other information pertaining to a customer), facilities, or any
27 other form of assistance, during the period of time beginning on September 11, 2001, and ending
on the date that is the effective date of this Act, in connection with any alleged classified
28 communications intelligence activity.” § 408, Proposed 2008 Intelligence Reauthorization.
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1 company, and he did not state that all companies “being sued” had assisted the Government as to
2 the TSP. Whether or to what extent any particular company (including Verizon or MCI) entered
3 into an intelligence gathering relationship with the Government therefore remains a state secret.
4 In any event, because the DNI’s statement was explicitly limited to the TSP, it is of no
5 assistance to Plaintiffs. Plaintiffs concede that they do not challenge that limited foreign
6 intelligence activity. Instead, Plaintiffs challenge an alleged content surveillance dragnet “far
7 broader” than the TSP, as well as the alleged collection of non-content information concerning
8 telephone call records. Pl. Opp. at 3. The cited DNI statement does not address in any way those
9 types of allegations, let alone confirm that such activities existed or that they were conducted
10 with the assistance of Verizon or MCI. Indeed, the Government has denied the existence of the
11 content dragnet alleged by Plaintiffs and has never confirmed or denied the existence of a
12 telephone records program. And even with respect to the TSP, as discussed, the DNI did not
13 confirm any intelligence gathering relationship between the Government and any specific
14 company, and did not point to any specific company among those that have been sued.
15 While some might speculate based on publicly available statements or media reports
16 (much of which offer varying or inconsistent accounts of alleged activities) as to whether any
17 specific company assisted the Government with respect to a particular alleged activity, that
18 would be just that—speculation. The Government has not confirmed or denied the existence of
19 any intelligence gathering relationship with any specific company as to any particular intelligence
20 activity. As explained throughout this case, disclosing such information could compromise the
21 sources and methods of the Government’s intelligence gathering efforts and aid foreign
22 adversaries in avoiding detection.
23 While the alleged carrier relationship certainly presents a significant threshold issue in
24 this litigation, there are many other reasons why Plaintiffs’ claims cannot be fully and fairly
25 adjudicated without state secrets. As we have explained, wholly apart from the relationship
26 issue, privileged information would be needed to adjudicate Plaintiffs’ standing and the merits of
27 their claims. For example, Plaintiffs’ telephone call records claims could not be adjudicated
28 without information confirming or denying the existence of the alleged program. And even
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1 assuming solely for the sake of argument that the existence of a call records program could be
2 established, more specific information would be needed for an actual adjudication of Plaintiffs’
3 claims, such as the scope of the alleged program; whether the named Plaintiffs’ own records were
4 disclosed; the duration of the alleged program and whether it is currently in operation; the
5 purpose and operation of the alleged program; the effectiveness of the alleged program in
6 detecting terrorist plots; the extent of any communications, if they exist, between the
7 Government and Verizon or MCI regarding the alleged program; whether the alleged program
8 was authorized by court order, statute, or constitutional authority; and the factual circumstances
9 that allowed the invocation of any such authorities. See Reply Memorandum of the United States
10 in Support of State Secrets Privilege and Motion to Dismiss or for Summary Judgment (“U.S.
11 Reply”), at 36-39. The Government’s denial of the content surveillance dragnet alleged by
12 Plaintiffs, moreover, could not be fully adjudicated without establishing the nature and scope of
13 actual NSA operations. See id. at 36. All of these facts, however, are covered by the state secrets
14 assertion in this case, have not been disclosed, and are clearly outside the scope of the statements
15 that Plaintiffs cite.
16 B. Correspondence From DNI McConnell and Attorney General Gonzales
17 Congressional correspondence from the Attorney General and DNI cited by Plaintiffs also
18 does not detract from the Government’s arguments that this case cannot be adjudicated without
19 state secrets. See Pl. Supp. Req. at 3-4. Plaintiffs contend that these letters “negate the
20 Government’s argument that no surveillance beyond the TSP has been acknowledged,” and thus
21 show that the very subject matter of this case is no longer a state secret. Id. at 3. The subject
22 matter of this action, however, is not whether NSA engages in unspecified intelligence gathering
23 activities other than the TSP. Rather, the very subject matter of this action is whether Verizon or
24 MCI participated in the particular secret activities alleged in this case, i.e., the alleged content
25 surveillance “dragnet” and telephone records program.
26 Neither the Attorney General’s letter nor the DNI’s letter confirms that those particular
27 alleged activities exist, much less discloses the details of any such activities that would be needed
28 to assess their legality. To the contrary, the DNI’s letter emphasizes that only “[o]ne particular
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1 aspect of [the NSA’s] activities, and nothing more, was publicly acknowledged by the President
2 and described in December 2005, following an unauthorized disclosure,” i.e., the TSP. Pl. Supp.
3 Req., Exhibit C., at 1 (emphasis added). The DNI further explained that the TSP is “the only
4 aspect of the NSA activities that can be discussed publicly because it is the only aspect of those
5 various activities whose existence has been officially acknowledged.” Id. (emphasis added).
6 Similarly, the Attorney General’s letter merely states that the President authorized the NSA to
7 undertake “a number” of unspecified “highly classified intelligence activities,” and clarifies that
8 the Attorney General’s use of the term “Terrorist Surveillance Program” in his public testimony
9 referred only to the “one aspect of the NSA activities” that the President publicly acknowledged.
10 Pl. Supp. Req., Exhibit C, at 1.
11 In short, neither letter detracts from the Government’s state secrets assertion. As the DNI
12 explained, the President, after September 11, 2001, authorized the National Security Agency
13 (NSA) to undertake a number of different intelligence activities, but only one aspect of those
14 activities, the TSP, has been publicly acknowledged. Significantly, Plaintiffs have disclaimed
15 any challenge to the TSP. In any event, as the DNI reiterated in his letter, “[i]t remains the case
16 that the operational details even of the activity acknowledged and described by the President
17 have not been made public and cannot be disclosed without harming national security.” See Pl.
18 Supp. Req., Ex. D.
19 C. Director Mueller’s July 26, 2007 Testimony
20 Plaintiffs claim that FBI Director Mueller somehow confirmed the existence, “at a
21 minimum, [of] the telephone records collection program alleged by Plaintiffs,” by testifying
22 before the House Judiciary Committee that he had a “brief discussion” with former Attorney
23 General John Ashcroft in March 2004 about “an NSA program that has been much discussed.”
24 Pl. Supp. Req. at 4 & Exhibit F at 18. Plaintiffs’ characterization of Director Mueller’s
25 testimony is based on nothing but pure speculation. Director Mueller was asked about the TSP
26 itself, see id., and, in the very general passage cited, was careful not to confirm or deny any
27 specific intelligence activities other than what had been acknowledged by the President. Director
28 Mueller certainly did not confirm the existence of any telephone records or content dragnet
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1 programs, or whether Verizon or MCI assisted with any such activities. Indeed, where the
2 underlying matters at issue are highly classified, limited public references must necessarily be
3 vague, and while Plaintiffs would like to infer that Director Mueller was referring to a telephone
4 records program, that type of guesswork cannot qualify as the type of disclosure that could
5 undercut a state secrets assertion. Plaintiffs’ conjecture concerning the implicit meaning of
6 Director Mueller’s testimony, therefore, has no bearing on privilege assertion in this case.
7 D. Interview With Representative Hoekstra
8 Just as they did in their initial opposition to our motion to dismiss or for summary
9 judgment, Plaintiffs cite an interview with a Member of Congress—here, Representative Pete
10 Hoekstra—to claim that he “confirmed that telecommunications carriers were the ‘companies’
11 that assisted in these surveillance activities.” Pl. Supp. Req. at 2. As we have previously argued,
12 press reports of statements by individual Members of Congress cannot undercut a state secrets
13 assertion. See U.S. Reply at 17-19.
14 In any event, a close examination of that interview, and the portions that Plaintiffs omit,
15 shows that it has no effect on the state secrets assertion in this action. From beginning to end, it
16 is clear that the object of the entire interview is the TSP, which is not at issue in this case. See Pl.
17 Supp. Req., Ex. B at 1 (introducing Congressman Hoekstra to discuss “President Bush’s terrorist
18 surveillance program”); id. at 3 (concluding the interview by stating “[m]uch more on the future
19 of the terrorist surveillance program when we come back”). Nowhere in the interview does
20 Representative Hoekstra discuss or reference allegations of a telephone records program or
21 content surveillance dragnet. Further, even when discussing the issue of telecommunication
22 company liability, he does so solely in reference to the TSP and without confirming or denying
23 the participation of any particular carrier in the TSP. See id. at 2, 3. At most, Representative
24 Hoekstra suggests that some unidentified companies assisted the NSA with a limited program not
25 at issue in this case. But like the other statements discussed above, that very general suggestion
26 by no means changes the fundamental conclusion that the particular claims at issue in this case
27
28
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1 cannot be adjudicated without state secrets.3

2 *****
3 Ultimately, in deciding whether the state secrets privilege has been properly asserted, the
4 Court, according the “utmost deference” to the government’s claim of privilege, must determine
5 whether there is a “reasonable danger” that litigating the matter would divulge matters “which, in
6 the interest of national security, should not be divulged.” Kasza, 133 F.3d at 1166.
7 Notwithstanding Plaintiffs’ efforts to piece together some public acknowledgment of some
8 activity, the following matters (at a minimum) remain privileged in this case: (1) whether or to
9 what extent the alleged telephone records program exists; (2) whether or to what extent Verizon
10 or MCI was involved in a telephone records program, if it exists or existed; (3) whether or to
11 what extent Plaintiffs’ own records or communications were disclosed or intercepted as part of a
12 foreign intelligence gathering activity; (4) other details concerning an alleged telephone records
13 program, if it exists or existed, including its scope, operation, nature, purpose, duration,
14 effectiveness, and legal basis; and (5) facts that would be needed to prove that the NSA does not
15 conduct the content surveillance dragnet that Plaintiffs allege. All of that information, as we
16 have explained at length, would be a necessary part of any full and fair adjudication of Plaintiffs’
17 claims, but is covered by the state secrets privilege, and it should be apparent now that the need
18 to protect this information requires dismissal.4
19
20 3
More generally, as we have discussed in our briefs, Plaintiffs’ repeated efforts to cobble
21 together information that they claim suggests that the alleged activities are public is out of step
with existing precedent. In cases like Tenet v. Doe, 544 U.S. 1 (2005), and Kasza v. Browner,
22 133 F.3d 1159 (9th Cir. 1998), the Government generally acknowledged that an underlying
activity existed (a CIA spy program in Tenet and an Air Force hazardous-waste facility in Kasza),
23
but the courts dismissed those cases because the information inherently needed to adjudicate the
24 claims was a state secret. Tenet, 544 U.S. at 4; Kasza, 133 F.3d at 1162-63, 1170. Here, where
the very existence of the alleged telephone call records program is a state secret, and the
25 Government has denied the alleged content surveillance dragnet, the case for dismissal is even
26 stronger than in Tenet or Kasza.
4
27 Plaintiffs’ supplemental filing also addresses the recent decision in In re Sealed Case,
No. 04-5313, 2007 WL 2067029 (D.C. Cir. July 20, 2007), and ACLU v. NSA, Nos. 06-2095,
28 06-2140, 2007 WL 1952370 (6th Cir. July 6, 2007). Because we have already addressed those
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1 CONCLUSION
2 For the foregoing reasons, the United States has no objection to Plaintiffs’ supplemental
3 requests for judicial notice, but does disagree with Plaintiffs’ characterization of the statements
4 and their impact on this litigation. None of the statements alters the fundamental conclusion that
5 this case cannot proceed without disclosing state secrets.
6 DATED: August 29, 2007 Respectfully Submitted,
7 PETER D. KEISLER
Assistant Attorney General, Civil Division
8
CARL J. NICHOLS
9 Deputy Assistant Attorney General
10 DOUGLAS N. LETTER
Terrorism Litigation Counsel
11
JOSEPH H. HUNT
12 Director, Federal Programs Branch
13 ANTHONY J. COPPOLINO
Special Litigation Counsel
14
s/ Alexander K. Haas
15 ANDREW H. TANNENBAUM
ALEXANDER K. HAAS (SBN 220932)
16 Trial Attorneys
U.S. Department of Justice
17 Civil Division, Federal Programs Branch
20 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
18 Washington, D.C. 20001
Phone: (202) 514-4782—Fax: (202) 616-8460
19 Email: [email protected]
20
21
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25
26
27
cases in our reply brief, we do not address them further here. Of course, we will address any
28 questions that the Court has about those cases at oral argument.
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