An obscure federal contract for a company charged with routing millions of phone calls and text messages in the United States has prompted an unusual lobbying battle in which intelligence officials are arguing that the nation’s surveillance secrets could be at risk.
The contractor that wins the bid would essentially act as the air traffic controller for the nation’s phone system, which is run by private companies but is essentially overseen by the government.
And with a European-based company now favored for the job, some current and former intelligence officials — who normally stay out of the business of awarding federal contracts — say they are concerned that the government’s ability to trace reams of phone data used in terrorism and law enforcement investigations could be hindered.
A small Virginia company, Neustar, has held the job since the late 1990s, but a private phone-industry panel has recommended to the Federal Communications Commission that an American division of Ericsson,
the Swedish-based technology company, get the work instead. No final decision has been made.
In its bid to hold on to the $446 million job, Neustar has hired Michael Chertoff,
a well-connected former secretary of homeland security, to examine the implications of the proposed switch.
...
Neustar declined to say how much it paid Mr. Chertoff for the report, indicating only that it was a “modest sum.”
...
Ericsson is a Swedish technology firm, but its supporters in the contract debate point out that the network’s operation would be handled by an American-based division, Telcordia Technologies, and that it would be run more cheaply than Neustar without any harm to the system’s operations.
...
The battle over the little-known routing network reflects the central role that the phone companies play in the government’s surveillance and phone-tracing capabilities.
The surveillance system has been intensely criticized in the 14 months since Edward J. Snowden,
the former National Security Agency analyst, released classified information detailing the wide scope of the government’s capabilities. As a result, Apple and Google took steps this month to encrypt smartphone data in ways that would make it much more difficult for government investigators to crack.
...
The routing network that was put in place, with Neustar as its administrator, was designed partly to allow the government nearly instant access to the data on where calls were being routed.
The contractor that wins the bid would essentially act as the air traffic controller for the nation’s phone system, which is run by private companies but is essentially overseen by the government.
And with a European-based company now favored for the job, some current and former intelligence officials — who normally stay out of the business of awarding federal contracts — say they are concerned that the government’s ability to trace reams of phone data used in terrorism and law enforcement investigations could be hindered.
A small Virginia company, Neustar, has held the job since the late 1990s, but a private phone-industry panel has recommended to the Federal Communications Commission that an American division of Ericsson,
In its bid to hold on to the $446 million job, Neustar has hired Michael Chertoff,
a well-connected former secretary of homeland security, to examine the implications of the proposed switch.
...
Neustar declined to say how much it paid Mr. Chertoff for the report, indicating only that it was a “modest sum.”
...
Ericsson is a Swedish technology firm, but its supporters in the contract debate point out that the network’s operation would be handled by an American-based division, Telcordia Technologies, and that it would be run more cheaply than Neustar without any harm to the system’s operations.
...
The battle over the little-known routing network reflects the central role that the phone companies play in the government’s surveillance and phone-tracing capabilities.
The surveillance system has been intensely criticized in the 14 months since Edward J. Snowden,
...
The routing network that was put in place, with Neustar as its administrator, was designed partly to allow the government nearly instant access to the data on where calls were being routed.
