Remember this?
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Critics have been howling since the announcement that the Department of Defense gave a no-bid contract for cell phone service in Iraq to a disgraced company called WorldCom. And with good reason. Competitors in the telecommunications business pointed out that WorldCom has no experience in building cell phone systems and objected to the fact that industry leaders were not even informed that such a contract was contemplated, much less given the opportunity to bid on it. Reform-minded watchdogs were appalled that any contract of any description was given to a bankrupt company whose $11 billion accounting fraud scandal was the largest in history, a company that is regarded as the poster child for everything that is dysfunctional about American corporations today. Budget-watchers were aghast at the outrageous cost. And then there is the sheer stupidity of it all.
Oh, and now this:
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NEW YORK, July 28 (Reuters) - AT&T Corp (T) will offer evidence on Monday that some telephone calls it says rival MCI diverted through Canada to avoid tariffs were placed by government agencies, a move lawyers say could pose national security risks, reports said on Monday.
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AT&T will claim that WorldCom rerouted some calls made by the State Department and other government agencies through Canada, The Times said in a subsequent article on Monday, citing a senior AT&T executive.
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If WorldCom rerouted calls through Canada to save money, the calls would not be protected from eavesdroppers who could compromise national security or other confidential information, the newspaper said, citing industry lawyers.
The joys of free enterprise...