June 26, 2006
They've cracked the database of secret U.S. government phone lines. They've harassed top state officials. They instigated a wide scale panic as the U.S. initiated the ground war in Iraq. And they did it all during dinnertime...
Yes, it seems that telemarketers are plaguing our nation's secret Homeland Security hotlines.
[Delaware Gov. Ruth Ann] Minner keeps the secret homeland defense hotline in her office. Governors have them for instant communication with Washington in case of a major emergency. Minner says that when her line rings, it's someone offering a time-share condominium or the latest deal on long-distance phone service.
"I wonder about the security of that line," Minner said.
She said other governors have reported similar interruptions, such as the caller who chirps, "Hello! Are you satisfied with your long-distance service provider?"
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle reported getting a similar call in 2003. The caller jangled nerves and the phone just as U.S. troops were launching ground combat in Iraq.
So what is the goverment to do? Why, put those telephone numbers into the national Do Not Call Registery, of course. Because obviously there's nothing more secure than placing secret numbers in a large public database.
...the federal government is at last doing what it recommends to millions of Americans with the same problem: placing the line's number on the registry, which makes calls to the number by most telemarketers illegal.
Of course telemarketing companies are immune from the registry law if they have a contract or an established business relationship with the number owner, which in this case is the government. So considering the sheer number of government contracts out there...
Perhaps a secret Homeland Security cell phone hotline would be more reliable?
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