Washington phone companies resist NSA investigation

The U.S. Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) is considering launching an investigation into how a controversial federal spying program allegedly run by the National Security Agency (NSA) has been conducted in the state of Washington. The UTC regulates phone companies in the state, and the program allegedly involves eavesdropping on the phone calls of U.S. residents without a warrant, and obtaining huge amounts of customer data from phone companies. According to the phone companies, however, they are barred by the federal government from releasing the information that would be required for an investigation. Also, the UTC has yet to determine if it even has the authority to conduct an investigation in the first place. A decision is expected in July.