Phone Records? No Problem for Clinton

Following the OKC bombing, the Secret Service placed a phone call to Cellular-One and got all the phone records (ALL the phone records) for cellular calls in Oklahoma:

"...tapes which show all cellular traffic in Oklahoma on their switch. These tapes will include all origination numbers, dialed number, date/time run/duration, and cell site information. Their system is run on an AT&T switch, they sent me the magnetic tape containing the data in high-density, 6250 BPI format. In addition they sent me the manual for the AT&T switch, which will explain the field layout for each record. We've got 30 days worth of information."

That's not all. They also got all the financial information on debit cards used to make the phone calls:

"Contacted by John Kane, West Coast Long Distance, he sent me the rest of the originating call information for all users of 800-793-3377. I requested the exact account number on Daryl Bridges, [the alias of McVeigh] he provided the account #00563946 (PIN). In addition, we discussed other sources of any information on the account. Kane stated Spotlight receives the initial order for the debit cards and then immediately forwards the order to State Street Bank in Boston to process the order and send out the debit cards. All of the payment information and account holder information should be with State Street Bank (Boston Financial Data Services)."

Then they did a little comparison work with 26 million phone numbers:

"(S)ince Bridges stopped using his debit card on 4/17, I asked West Coast to search their system for any other debit card accounts that have called Terry Nichols in the last week. That seemed to be the hottest number to search for at this time."

Soon this database search was expanded to all WCT debit card users in Kansas.
"Talked to John Kane," Riley noted, "a check was made for any debit cards being used in Junction City, Kansas."

Then there is this stunning entry in the field notes addressed to a high-ranking DOJ lawyer:
"Talked with John Kane, (he) ran 26 million numbers against the five we have given him so far, looking for debit cards that may have called."

It became apparent that the "Liberty Lobby" was an organization of interest, so:


That same day that the Secret Service tap was made into WCT, a larger project was nearing completion – the complete downloading of every debit card customer who purchased a Spotlight calling card from Liberty Lobby since November 1993 – an estimated 5,000 persons.
To avoid tipping off Liberty Lobby, the publisher of the Spotlight newspaper, Riley made contact directly with the company that handled Liberty Lobby's bank transactions. Soon arrangements were made for all payment records of Spotlight's debit cardholders to be turned over to the Secret Service by a financial services company in Boston, along with customer names and addresses associated with each cardholder that ordered a debit card from the right-wing newspaper.

To cover the agency's tracks, Riley recorded the event this way:
"I requested the information on every customer currently using the Spotlight Debit Card System to include account number, account name, address, method of payment/payment history. These accounts will be voluminous, however the program was created in November of 1993, and probably has less than 5,000 total customers (estimate). In addition, I have advised Godfrey (manager of Customer Services for Boston Financial Data Services) he would be receiving a notice requiring non-disclosure of this information which would prevent him from advising anyone of this request to include Spotlight/Liberty Lobby. Godfrey agreed to begin pulling the records immediately and will pull records pertaining to account #00563946 (Bridges PIN) first and fax by tomorrow.

Privacy? WHAT privacy?