CIA Said to Pay AT&T for Customer Data in Terrorist Hunt
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The Central Intelligence Agency has negotiated contracts with AT&T Inc. and other U.S. companies to mine their databases for records of communications, including financial transactions, of suspected terrorists overseas.
The agreement with AT&T, the largest U.S phone company, costs the CIA more than $10 million a year, said a former U.S. official who worked in the effort to track down terrorist suspects, drug cartels, fugitives and other targets of interest by searching through overseas communications.