Posted on 06/25/2006 7:11:37 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - The chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee urged the Bush administration on Sunday to seek criminal charges against newspapers that reported on a secret financial-monitoring program used to trace terrorists.
Rep. Peter King (news, bio, voting record) cited The New York Times in particular for publishing a story last week that the Treasury Department was working with the CIA to examine messages within a massive international database of money-transfer records.
King, R-N.Y., said he would write Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation's chief law enforcer "begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times — the reporters, the editors and the publisher."
"We're at war, and for the Times to release information about secret operations and methods is treasonous," King told The Associated Press.
A message left Sunday with Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis was not immediately returned.
King's action was not endorsed by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, GOP Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania.
"On the basis of the newspaper article, I think it's premature to call for a prosecution of the New York Times, just like I think it's premature to say that the administration is entirely correct," Specter told "Fox News Sunday."
Stories about the money-monitoring program also appeared last week in The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. King said he thought investigators should examine those publications, but that the greater focus should be on The New York Times because the paper in December also disclosed a secret domestic wiretapping program.
He charged that the paper was "more concerned about a left-wing elitist agenda than it is about the security of the American people."
When the paper chose to publish the story, it quoted the executive editor, Bill Keller, as saying editors had listened closely to the government's arguments for withholding the information, but "remain convinced that the administration's extraordinary access to this vast repository of international financial data, however carefully targeted use of it may be, is a matter of public interest."
In a letter printed in Sunday editions of the Times that the paper said was sent to people who wrote to Keller, the editor said the administration argued "in a half-hearted way" that disclosure of the program "would lead terrorists to change tactics."
But Keller wrote that the Treasury Department has "trumpeted ... that the U.S. makes every effort to track international financing of terror. Terror financiers know this, which is why they have already moved as much as they can to cruder methods. But they also continue to use the international banking system, because it is immeasurably more efficient than toting suitcases of cash."
Lucy Dalglish, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the paper acted responsibly, both in last week's report and in reporting last year about the wiretapping program.
"Its pretty clear to me that in this story and in the story last December that the New York Times did not act recklessly. They try to do whatever they can to take into account whatever security concerns the government has and they try to behave responsibly, Dalglish said. "I think in years to come that this is a story American citizens are going to be glad they had, however this plays out.
After the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Treasury officials obtained access to a vast database called Swift — the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication. The Belgium-based database handles financial message traffic from thousands of financial institutions in more than 200 countries.
Democrats and civil libertarians are questioning whether the program violated privacy rights.
The service, which routes more than 11 million messages each day, mostly captures information on wire transfers and other methods of moving money in and out of the United States, but it does not execute those transfers.
The service generally does not detect private, individual transactions in the United States, such as withdrawals from an ATM or bank deposits. It is aimed mostly at international transfers.
Gonzales said last month that he believes journalists can be prosecuted for publishing classified information, citing an obligation to national security. He also said the government would not hesitate to track telephone calls made by reporters as part of a criminal leak investigation, but officials would not do so routinely and randomly.
In recent months, journalists have been called into court to testify as part of investigations into leaks, including the unauthorized disclosure of a CIA operative's name.
He said the First Amendment right of a free press should not be absolute when it comes to national security.
I am starting to wonder if the NYT leaks are coming from Specter.
The New York Times editors should be tried for high treason and suffer the maximum penalty.
Who proclaimed Specter GOD?
Peter King was one of the Clinton Five, apparently because he wanted clinton to give his wife a job in the embassy to Ireland. But recently he seems to be making more sense.
Yes, the Times has been guilty of treason many times over, and unless they are punished in accordance with the law they will keep right on doing it. They hate our country and take every opportunity to help our enemies. They are completely without patriotism or shame. Nothing less than jail terms will persuade them to stop this pattern of behavior.
Preferably good long jail terms, which their crimes deserve.
I sent Spector an email right after his appearance this morning requesting that he step down as chairman of the judiciary committee. His refusal to condemn the NYTimes for printing this highly classified information, and his refusal to give the benefit of doubt to the President is the last straw for me regarding Arlen. He needs to step aside and let Sessions or Kyle step up.
He's absolutely right. They should be indicted, and so should their sources.
You're right, of course, we all should make as much noise as we can about it....thousands of people mad as hell making a lot of noise. That would be a good thing.
Moreso the sources - you can be angry with your dog for taking your sandwich, but it was you who left it where he could get it.
Don't get into a food fight with a group that buys ink by the barrel. Cut off their funding.
It'll be interesting to see how the NYT stock faires tomorrow. I'm betting it will decline... again.
water board the reporter and find the leak. that is the one you want to take out
I sure hope you're not holding your breath on SPECTRE stepping aside -- he will clutch that judiciary comm. chairmanship to his last breath. He should have been thrust aside in the 2004 election, but we're stuck with him now.
An aside, I was talking tonight with a family member who lives in PA, who is highly non-political and cares little for either Republican or Democratic pols..... and he said that SPECTRE's comments made him wish that Spectre had been defeated by Twoomey!! I only mention this because if people like him are saying this then SPECTRE's stock with the 'middle' of the electorate must really be sinking.
The times is not a dog pilfering a sandwich. The Times like the person who leaked the information is responsible for their treasonous actions.
LOL; I'm not holding my breath, but it sure did make me feel better after I sent him the email. Its good to hear about what the folks in PA are thinking about Arlen; I hope they are also feeling completely disgusted and embarrassed by Mr. "the US is a greater threat to peace than North Korea or Iraq" Murtha.
King, R-N.Y., said he would write Attorney General Alberto Gonzales urging that the nation's chief law enforcer "begin an investigation and prosecution of The New York Times — the reporters, the editors and the publisher."
We are at war. The MSM refuses to admit this new reality. What the NYT did was treasonous and if illegal, should be prosecuted relentlessly. I would not mind my tax dollars used to break the NYT's bank.
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