Posted on 06/26/2006 8:23:26 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Bush slams leak of terror finance story
10 minutes ago
President Bush on Monday sharply condemned the disclosure of a secret anti-terrorism program that taps into an immense international database of confidential financial records. "The disclosure of this program is disgraceful," he said.
"For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America," Bush said. He said the disclosure of the program "makes it harder to win this war on terror."
The program has been going on since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It was disclosed last week by several news organizations.
Using broad government subpoenas, the program allows U.S. counterterrorism analysts to obtain financial information from a vast database maintained by a company based in Belgium. It routes about 11 million financial transactions daily among 7,800 banks and other financial institutions in 200 countries.
"Congress was briefed and what we did was fully authorized under the law," Bush said, talking with reporters in the Roosevelt Room after meeting with groups that support U.S. troops in Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
One question not asked:
When Mr GS-14 federal employee approaches them with classified information, do they have a moral obligation to report it to authorities?
Yes! That would be great. He was so angry during that last question at the news conference, I'm surprised he didn't do exactly that.
I second that nomination!
A reporter asked if Tony would tell her if there are any other secret programs the Administration has asked the media not to print!
Tony's response, "Does anyone in this room have any secret programs you are working with us on?" No Lester, that's your fillings!"
As far as I can tell nothing is going to be done.
Write, protest, whine about it here won't change the matter.
Face it we are defenseless as long as our fellow citizens aid, abet, and neglect their obligation comes first to the country that gave them freedom.
We are further defenseless as our own government will not act to bring the traitors to justice.
Many will die due to negligence on many levels.
He's going to sign on with his FR screen name, and (along with you and the rest of the hand-wringers) demand that somebody DO something....
Not according to the discussion that they had on C-SPAN yessterday morning.
Wall Street Journal Article:
FREE PREVIEW
Treasury Tracks Financial Data In Secret Program By Glenn R. Simpson Word Count: 1,005 Since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury Department has been secretly tracking suspected terrorist financing through a far-reaching program that gives it access to records from the network that handles nearly all international financial transfers. The information comes from a Belgian firm known by its acronym, Swift, which manages much of the world's financial-message traffic. Under the program, U.S. counter-terrorism analysts query Swift's vast database of billions of financial transactions for information on activity by suspected terrorists. The program operates under a series of broad U.S. subpoenas.
U.S. officials say the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program ...
• THE FULL WSJ.com ARTICLE IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.
"Send Viagra to the other Perps in the cell block"
I thing the average NYT staffer would consider that a reward instead of punishment
The President can't do anything about it other than do what he did this morning: use the bully pulpit to slam them.
The Justice Department might be able to investigate and bring charges if specific laws were violated.
"We don't know what the banking consortium will do, but we found this argument puzzling," Keller said, pointing out that the banks were under subpoena to provide the information. "The Bush Administration and America itself may be unpopular in Europe these days, but policing the byways of international terror seems to have pretty strong support everywhere."
This guy needs to be jailed for twenty years. Then he can see how his quips and clever retorts work being bent over a chrome sink. Lunatics everywhere. I keep forgetting that we are also at war with a sect of of population too.
He just did -- this morning when he used the bully pulpit to slame the NYT and other media outlets that published the info. Other than that, the POTUS can't do anything. Ony the Justice Dept. can -- and yes, the AG reports to the POTUS, but AG's are always semi-autonomous.
But if he doesn't DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT then these leaks are just well marketed press releases.
I agree.
"When Mr GS-14 federal employee approaches them with classified information, do they have a moral obligation to report it to authorities?"
I believe they do have that obligation. If Mr GS-14 federal employee thinks he's being a whistle-blower, the proper channels are not through the media.
Face it we are defenseless as long as our fellow citizens aid, abet, and neglect their obligation comes first to the country that gave them freedom. We are further defenseless as our own government will not act to bring the traitors to justice. Many will die due to negligence on many levels.Sad but true.
Exactly. Words of condemnation do nothing. CHARGE HIM.
"For people to leak that program and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America"
Dear Mr. President,
May I respectfully recommend less fuming and more prosecuting.
Correspondence to the Department, including the Attorney General, may be sent to:
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
BY E-MAIL:
E-mails to the Department of Justice, including the Attorney General, may be sent to AskDOJ@usdoj.gov.
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