The National Security Agency (NSA), it was recently revealed, has been secretly amassing the largest database ever created on the telephone calling habits of millions of Americans. News of the data mining program comes as the NSA program of eavesdropping on international telephone calls without warrants remains unresolved, continuing to draw consternation and at times furor from both Congress and the public. USA Today reported on May 11 that the NSA is collecting call records from the databases of Verizon, AT&T, and BellSouth through established agreements with the telecommunications companies. Information collected includes call records, which is to say every number dialed and the time and duration of each call, but apparently not the content of the calls. The program's scope far exceeds that of the NSA spying program previously disclosed by The New York Times, which supposedly only includes U.S. calls made to and from foreign countries. President Bush immediately defended the program and maintains that the government "isn't mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of Americans." The information in the NSA database does not concern the content of the phone conversations nor does it contain personally identifiable information, but experts note that match identifying information to the calling data would not be difficult. Congress will have its first opportunity to ask tough questions about the program during General Michael Hayden's confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Thursday. The president has picked Hayden, who headed the NSA from 1999 to 2005, to be the next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Meanwhile Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, promised to hold hearings on the secret program. Specter stated his intention to "call executives from the telephone companies to testify before Congress about the relationship with the NSA and what sort of data was provided." The House of Representatives has also responded to the news. House Democrats introduced the Lawful Intelligence and Surveillance of Terrorists in an Emergency by the NSA (Listen Act) that would require the NSA to comply with the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The Listen Act mandates that any covert spying program, including those that collect the telephone or email records of Americans, must receive formal approval from the FISA Court--a secret court that regularly meets in Washington to issue warrants related to national security. At the moment, the legality of the newly revealed NSA program remains a matter of great controversy. One of the major telecommunications companies approached by the NSA refused to participate in the spying program, underscoring questions of its legality. Qwest Communications refused to cooperate with the data mining program due to concerns it had about the program's legality and about how widely the information would be shared. According to USA Today, Qwest was told that the NSA regularly shares its information with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Central Intelligence Agency, and the Drug Enforcement Agency. The NSA program is assumed not to be in violation of the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures due to a Supreme Court precedent that no reasonable expectation of privacy for call detail records exists. According to legal experts, however, the program may violate communications statutes that govern the release of such records. A lawsuit was brought against Verizon on Friday for $5 billion, claiming that Verizon violated the Telecommunications Act. Other lawsuits are expected to be filed against the other telecommunications companies who shared call information with the NSA. On May 14, USA Today also released a poll of 809 adults taken May 12-13 that indicates a 51 percent disapproval rating of the program, with 62 percent of those polled supporting immediate congressional hearings into the matter. Accoring to the poll, two-thirds of Americans are concerned that the government would misidentify innocent people as terrorist suspects (65%), that the government will listen in on telephone calls without a warrant (63% with 41% very concerned), and that the government is gathering information on the general public, such as bank records or Internet usage (67% with 45% very concerned).