EFF Secures Documentary Proof of NSA 'Country Tap' at AT&T Facility

On 20 January 2006, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) received a visit from Mark Klein, a retired AT&T technician, who brought documentary evidence of a secret National Security Agency (NSA) surveillance program. The documents revealed that the agency was conducting untargeted domestic surveillance by tapping into the internet backbone at an AT&T facility in San Francisco. This evidence detailed a mechanism described as a 'country tap', where fibre-optic cables were split to copy all traffic passing through the network.

The specific infrastructure involved a secret room, designated 641A, located on the sixth floor of an AT&T building on Folsom Street. This room was accessible only to personnel with NSA clearances. Adjacent to the secure space was a splitter cabinet where cables descending from the seventh floor were divided. One set of cables continued to the internet, while a second set was routed into the secret room to capture a copy of all communications. This setup allowed the NSA to sit on the wire within the United States without slowing the public network or leaving a trace of its activities.

Prior to this disclosure, the EFF had heard whispers of mass surveillance since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act in 2001. While industry contacts and confidential reports suggested the NSA was gathering telephone records and metadata, no whistleblower had previously provided admissible documentary evidence for a lawsuit. The arrival of Klein's proof marked a significant shift from confidential tips to concrete, court-admissible facts regarding the extent of the surveillance.

Armed with this evidence, the EFF filed a motion for a preliminary injunction against the surveillance program on 31 March 2006. The legal strategy aimed to stop the program by demonstrating that it violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) and the Constitution. The motion relied heavily on the declaration of Mark Klein and the AT&T documents he provided to establish that the agency was engaged in illegal domestic spying.

The submission of the evidence required navigating strict security protocols imposed by the Department of Justice. EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn recounted a conversation with DOJ attorney Tony Coppolino, who insisted the documents be sent via a slow, secure fax machine within a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility (SCIF). Coppolino warned that unmarked documents could still be classified and that standard methods like email or courier were deemed insecure, highlighting the sensitivity of the government's response to the allegations.

This event underscored the erosion of the legal wall separating foreign intelligence surveillance from domestic law enforcement activities following the 9/11 attacks. The EFF's analysis of the PATRIOT Act had identified provisions allowing for significant overreach in internet surveillance, but it was the physical proof of the 'country tap' that provided the necessary foundation for legal challenge. The case remains a pivotal moment in the history of digital privacy and government surveillance in the United States.