>The National Security Agency has been secretly collecting the phone
>call records of tens of millions of Americans, using data provided by
>AT&T, Verizon and BellSouth, people with direct knowledge of the
>arrangement told USA TODAY.
In applications for wiretap authorization (few of which are denied) there is boilerplate language about phone toll record analysis being a good investigative tool, but not enough to achieve the goals of "this investigation." Toll records get a foot in the door, then you get a court order.