General Hayden faced sharp questioning from Democrats about whether the eavesdropping operation was legal and whether he had misled Congress and the public about it.

That program led to the broader eavesdropping operation on other international communications, officials have said.

According the New York Times, the eavesdropping operations did not only target local criminals, but also the communications of top Chinese leaders.

And if, for example, some government were to subpoena an eavesdropping operation on that wire, I would never know.

Mel'nychenko visited Ukraine in 2005 to release new allegation details, but hasn't disclosed any details of his possible eavesdropping operation.

He would not say, for instance, how many American citizens have been the targets of the eavesdropping operation, or exactly when the program started.

From what I've heard, they've got a first-class eavesdropping operation going on down there.

Mr. Fine said in his letter to members of Congress that he decided to open his investigation after "conducting initial inquiries" into the eavesdropping operation.

The raids arose from reading Provenzano's notes in the light of evidence from the eavesdropping operation.

He may have been sent to Washington to continue an eavesdropping operation already under way.