Posted on 06/22/2006 7:04:19 PM PDT by baseball_fan
WASHINGTON, June 22 - Under a secret Bush administration program initiated weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, counterterrorism officials have gained access to financial records from a vast international database and examined banking transactions involving thousands of Americans and others in the United States, according to government and industry officials.
The program is limited, government officials say, to tracing transactions of people suspected of ties to Al Qaeda by reviewing records from the nerve center of the global banking industry, a Belgian cooperative that routes about $6 trillion daily between banks, brokerages, stock exchanges and other institutions. The records mostly involve wire transfers and other methods of moving money overseas or into and out of the United States. Most routine financial transactions confined to this country are not in the database.
Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, the officials said. The program, run out of the Central Intelligence Agency and overseen by the Treasury Department, "has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks and is, without doubt, a legal and proper use of our authorities," Stuart Levey, an undersecretary at the Treasury Department, said in an interview Thursday. The program is grounded in part on the president's emergency economic powers, Mr. Levey said, and multiple safeguards have been imposed to protect against any unwarranted searches of Americans' records.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
This is not news.
And how would have program uncovered 9/11 plot --- NOT
They want to get a hold of the "Money Laundering" problem, BUT THEY WILL NOT GO AFTER THE VERY SOURCE OF THE PROBLEM ==== THE DRUG USERS!
BS BS BS!
I didn't know the Patriot Act was a secret.
"Viewed by the Bush administration as a vital tool, the program has played a hidden role in domestic and foreign terrorism investigations since 2001 and helped in the capture of the most wanted Qaeda figure in Southeast Asia, the officials said."
Isn't this what we have Congressional intelligence committees for, not to bring everything into the open so our enemies know what we're doing?
Not all of it is.
I can hear Feingold salivating from here...
Is this just more information from Risen's book? Note the authors are the same as with the NSA story. Or could this info have been provided to these "reporters" (cough/traitors/cough) as part of a sting operation???
This oughta bump Bush's poll numbers up a couple of more points.
Oh man... not this cr@p again. Here we go again.
Is this just more information from Risen's book?
doesn't look like it... this from the article:
"Administration officials, however, asked The New York Times not to publish this article, saying that disclosure of the Swift program could jeopardize its effectiveness. They also enlisted several current and former officials, both Democrat and Republican, to vouch for its value."
The administration asked the Times not to publish, but like the good little traitorous sumbeaches they are they did it anyway.
Why hasnt the FBI closed this craphole down.?
"Achmed?"
"Yes Khalid?"
"Did you see the New York Times report on how the infidels are tracking our money?"
"Yes Khalid. I sent a courier with a note to the financier, and he wrote back and assured me that he will route the transfers through a firm in the Bahamas and have the money laundered."
"That is good Achmed."
"It is easy. The infidel newspapers do all the hard work. All I have to do is sit here and write out notes."
"Achmed?"
"Yes Khalid?"
"How come you just don't call the financier?"
"Oh - that! Because the New York Times revealed that the infidels were monitoring our phone calls."
"Damn those infidels!"
"Thank Allah for the New York Times Khalid. Without them we'd have no secrets that weren't known to the infidels."
"Praise Allah for the New York Times."
"Indeed, praise Allah for the New York Times."
[Our subpoena of terrorist-related records from Swift has provided us with a unique and powerful window into the operations of terrorist networks," Levey said.
Both he and Perino expressed concern that public disclosure of the program could undermine their terror-tracking efforts.
"We know the terrorists pay attention to our strategy to fight them, and now have another piece of the puzzle of how we are fighting them," Perino said. "We also know they adapt their methods, which increases the challenge to our intelligence and law enforcement officials."
Perino added: "The president is concerned that once again The New York Times has chosen to expose a classified program that is working to protect our citizens."]
source: Washington Post "U.S. Gets Access to Worldwide Banking Data" http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/22/AR2006062201583.html?sub=AR
This is actually pretty common knowledge among us who work in financial institutions... especially those of us involved in information systems. It is a requirement.
Agree. This is not news. Risen must have held on to old speeches by Pres. Bush and V.P. Cheney, and old govt. press releases talking about the same subject.
Bet next week the NYT comes out and is horrified to report that the U.S. also reviewed Western Union MoneyGrams to track down cash flows into the Middle East.
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