Well, my LTTE wasn't published (12 May 2006)

but I did get a reply via snail-mail from Senator Kyl's office (I sent it to him through his website).
Here's the post of my original letter.

Here the reply I received:

May 23, 2006

Dear Mr. McDermott:

Thank you for contacting me concerning the recent news reports about the National Security Agency collecting phone records.

USA Today did not accurately describe the intelligence-collection program targeted at terrorists. The program compiles information on phone calls, stripped of personal information such as names and addresses, and looks for patterns to locate terrorist networks within that data. This program does not monitor or collect the content of any communications.

The Supreme Court, in the 1979 case of Smith v. Maryland, held that there is no expectation of privacy in the telephone numbers one calls. In fact, they are part of our phone bills, and law enforcement often looks at phone records during criminal investigations. I believe we should be able to investigate terrorists with the same tools we use against ordinary criminals.

Please keep in touch.

Sincerely,

Jon Kyl

United States Senator

JK:MMM

It totally ignored my point that while the police can access phone records during criminal investigations, they need a court order/warrant. The NSA does not.

Good night!