Electronic surveillance

Feds: Still no proof Verizon Wireless in NSA surveillance program

The Justice Department is persisting in the implausible claim that there is no reliable proof that Verizon Wireless was part of the National Security Agency's program to sweep up data on U.S. telephone calls, notwithstanding a government document officially released last month that appears to confirm the cellphone carrier's involvement.

In a filing Tuesday night with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, government lawyers argue that because Verizon Wireless's name appears only in the caption of the newly released letter and not in its text, the government has not officially acknowledged Verizon Wireless' participation in the NSA program.