With assets of US$268 billion, AT&T is still enormous. In fact, besides being the largest telephone provider in the US, AT&T is the seventh largest US firm by total revenue, and the 14th largest company in the world by market value.

Of the US$6 billion in contracts that AT&T had with the US federal government between 2000 and 2009, US$3.4 billion were with military departments or agencies. During six of those years, AT&T ranked within the US military’s top 100 contractors.

One of the contracts received by AT&T Government Solutions, was to configure automatic data processing equipment for AH-64 "Apache" helicopters. US attack helicopters of this kind were transferred to Israel’s military, which has used them in attacks on Lebanon in 2006, and Gaza in 2008-2009.

In 2000, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had "called upon AT&T after hackers… downed its site." An article in Israel’s business paper, Globes, explained that the IDF

News of AT&T’s web support for the IDF sparked calls for a US boycott of the company. An action alert for that campaign noted that "the IDF website is being used to propagate justifications for the mass killings and repression of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories."

In the mid-2000s, AT&T was at the centre of a scandal linking it to mass surveillance done intelligence companies from Israel. Another telecom caught in this intrigue was Verizon. Both companies turned over their customers’ web communications and phone call records to the US National Security Agency. This huge transfer of data – often done without court orders or legal warrants – amounted to billions of daily messages.

To accomplish this monumental task, AT&T employed the services of Narus, a mass surveillance firm founded in Israel. This was revealed by a 22-year veteran of AT&T named Mark Klein. When Klein blew the whistle on his former employer, his testimony became central to a class-action lawsuit which revealed that AT&T’s illegal transfer of data to the NSA was done using a Narus supercomputer called the STA 6400. (See "Israeli Spy Companies.") The Electronic Frontier Foundation lawsuit met an untimely demise in 2008, when the US Congress passed a law granting retroactive, blanket immunity to telecoms for their complicity in the government’s unwarranted eavesdropping program.

Telephone & Telegraph Co.,  AT&T evolved from the American Bell Telephone Co., or "Ma Bell." When forced by an antitrust lawsuit to break up its monopoly in 1984, AT&T formed seven regional holding companies or "Baby Bells." One of these, Bell Atlantic, evolved into Verizon Communications. (See Verizon in table "CPP Investments.")

With assets of US$268 billion, AT&T is still enormous. In fact, besides being the largest telephone provider in the US, AT&T is the seventh largest US firm by total revenue, and the 14th largest company in the world by market value.

Of the US$6 billion in contracts that AT&T had with the US federal government between 2000 and 2009, US$3.4 billion were with military departments or agencies. During six of those years, AT&T ranked within the US military’s top 100 contractors.

One of the contracts received by AT&T Government Solutions, was to configure automatic data processing equipment for AH-64 "Apache" helicopters. US attack helicopters of this kind were transferred to Israel’s military, which has used them in attacks on Lebanon in 2006, and Gaza in 2008-2009.

In 2000, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) announced that it had "called upon AT&T after hackers… downed its site." An article in Israel’s business paper, Globes, explained that the IDF

News of AT&T’s web support for the IDF sparked calls for a US boycott of the company. An action alert for that campaign noted that "the IDF website is being used to propagate justifications for the mass killings and repression of Palestinian civilians in the occupied territories."

In the mid-2000s, AT&T was at the centre of a scandal linking it to mass surveillance done intelligence companies from Israel. Another telecom caught in this intrigue was Verizon. Both companies turned over their customers’ web communications and phone call records to the US National Security Agency. This huge transfer of data – often done without court orders or legal warrants – amounted to billions of daily messages.

To accomplish this monumental task, AT&T employed the services of Narus, a mass surveillance firm founded in Israel. This was revealed by a 22-year veteran of AT&T named Mark Klein. When Klein blew the whistle on his former employer, his testimony became central to a class-action lawsuit which revealed that AT&T’s illegal transfer of data to the NSA was done using a Narus supercomputer called the STA 6400. (See "Israeli Spy Companies.") The Electronic Frontier Foundation lawsuit met an untimely demise in 2008, when the US Congress passed a law granting retroactive, blanket immunity to telecoms for their complicity in the government’s unwarranted eavesdropping program.

AT&T has a close working relationship with another Israeli firm linked to the warrantless-wiretapping spy scandal, namely Amdocs. AT&T is Amdocs biggest customer. Also, when AT&T established an R&D innovation centre in Israel they set up shop on Amdocs’ Israeli premises in Ra’anana. Managing their AT&T Foundry, which works with high-tech start-up companies, is Yigal Elbaz, "a Lieutenant Colonel at the Israeli Reserve Defense Force."

Another link between AT&T and Amdocs is an Israeli investment firm called Aurum Ventures MKI. Bloomberg’s Business News website says "Aurum Ventures MKI Ltd. is a venture capital investment arm of AT&T Inc." Aurum, which funds fledgling Israeli companies, says it is "the technology investment arm of Morris Kahn," the founder of Amdocs, and one of Israel’s richest men.

Although Aurum says it "prefers to invest in life sciences and cleantech sectors," it also invests in military- and surveillance-related firms like Elcom Technologies and Foxcom.

Elcom Technologies:

Elcom manufactures radio frequency and microwave technologies used in unmanned aerial vehicles, military communications, radar and electronic warfare equipment. Its products are marketed in Israel by Elul Technologies Ltd. which calls itself "Israel’s largest aerospace and defense business development and consulting company."

This Israeli firm makes fibreoptic links for tactical communication systems, including military satellites. It says its products are "used around the world on numerous different military platforms."

Foxcom got caught in a 2002 scandal that landed US Republican Congressman Rob Ney behind bars for corruption. Ney pled guilty to awarding Foxcom a suspicious multi-million dollar contract in exchange for campaign contributions and other gifts from disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Israel’s Globes business paper describes him as a "religiously observant man and a fervid support of Israel …suspected of sending paramilitary equipment to Israeli settlers in Betar Illit." Foxcom then paid Abramoff US$280,000 and donated US$50,000 to his charity.

Here’s how former CIA officer Philip Giraldi described the crime:

AT&T
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT%26T

"2010 Form 10-K, AT&T Inc.," US SEC
www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/732717/000073271711000014/ex13.htm