In a country where privacy is an almost sacred right, this latest scandal after a newspaper report suggested the US government is running a surveillance programme has explosive potential because it reaches into the home of every American.
President Bush has defended the secret wiretapping of al-Qaeda suspects and their associates without court warrants, but these latest revelations suggests tens of millions of innocent Americans are being caught up in the surveillance net.
USA Today claims that after 9/11, the National Security Agency (NSA) asked all the major phone companies for access to their records of all calls.
An anonymous source told the paper the agency's goal is "to create a database of every call ever made" within the nation's borders.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4763799.stm
"An anonymous source" carries no credibility. However, how far are the US Government prepared to go?