Posted on 06/26/2006 11:55:40 PM PDT by RWR8189
Letter to the Editors of The New York Times
by Treasury Secretary Snow
Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Keller:
The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide. In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.
Your charge that our efforts to convince The New York Times not to publish were "half-hearted" is incorrect and offensive. Nothing could be further from the truth. Over the past two months, Treasury has engaged in a vigorous dialogue with the Times - from the reporters writing the story to the D.C. Bureau Chief and all the way up to you. It should also be noted that the co-chairmen of the bipartisan 9-11 Commission, Governor Tom Kean and Congressman Lee Hamilton, met in person or placed calls to the very highest levels of the Times urging the paper not to publish the story. Members of Congress, senior U.S. Government officials and well-respected legal authorities from both sides of the aisle also asked the paper not to publish or supported the legality and validity of the program.
Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror. Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.
You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money. The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.
Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.
What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.
Sincerely,
[signed]
John W. Snow, Secretary
U.S. Department of the Treasury
PING!
WOW! :-)
Can anyone doubt, after this, that domestic traitors are a greater danger to this nation than any foreign terrorist ever spawned?
How is explaining WHY this is so wrong "crying"?
His letter will be read by NYT readers. They're the ones who need to understand why this kind of thing is harmful to fighting the terrorists who hit New York.
I'm all for jailing these bastards, too, but gimme a break with the "crying" thing whenever someone actually engages in discussion as to WHY these actions are treasonous.
Thank you Treasury Secretary Snow. The slimes and the other msm traitors need to be knocked down a few notches; keep it up.
Slimes of a feather!
Sedition...no.... this "IS" TM BIlly Jeff TREASON!!!
effing commies.. what i want to say would get me banned!
Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036
Dear Mr. Keller:
What a treasonous lousy rotten crud you are. In your blind zeal to work against President Bush because of the insane level of hatred you have for the man, and because of your desperation to inflate your profits by demonstrating that you are still a power player in the field of journalism (profits that are crashing because of your insane hatred of President Bush), you have selfishly decided yet again to publish secret information that is vital to the US effort in the War on Terror. You ought to be ashamed.
The US has been at War against Terrorists who specifically want to dish America dirt by murdering as many innocent civilians as possible, for years now and there has yet to be a single news article or opinion piece in the NYT that can be described as helpful in that endeavour. You ought to be ashamed.
When the next hit comes and perhaps tens of thousands of innocent American civilians including women and children die in the most horrible way... will you stand up and take responsibility for first helping the terrorists to create cells in America and then secondly helping them to get the vital funding that they need to launch such a crime? Or will you be hysterically pointing fingers at President Bush the man who unlike yourselves is actually fighting against the terrorists' plans? Certainly the way you have been conducting yourselves it would obviously be the latter. You ought to be ashamed.
Sincerely,
Berlin_Freeper
What would be great would be a class action suit by American citizens against the Times for damaging our ability to protect ourselves.
I used to think Sulzberger was a partisan political activist but in the last few years I've come to believe he simply doesn't have the brains to pour piss out of a boot with the instructions printed on the heel.
Good read, Dave.
Forget going after the Time or their reporters in an legal way. The case would be close to impossible. Instead, our government should find the scum sucking sob's working being paid by our tax dollars that keep leaking classified information to the slimes.
If finding out who the leaker(s) are means putting Times employees into federal prison until they give up their sources, so be it.
I sent my post to the New York Times at this email address:
letters@nytimes.com
http://nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/infoservdirectory.html#a
Pst. Treasury Secretary is not the equivalent of Attorney General.
what about a citizen's arrest for the publisher for treason? All one needs on one of New Yorks finest on hand while the citizne's arrest is affected. hmmmmmmmm..
Oh please, enough with the crying crap. Today both Bush and Snow have expressed points of view about this, and you think that's "crying". I know it looks so easy to just start charging journalists, but like it or not, we actually do have freedom of the press in this country. If you want to buy the Left a golden ticket to burn the President with the label Fascist, you go right ahead. The childish need to show "balls" has zero to do with reality, and the reality is that the American public does not want to see the press imprisoned--anyone with contact with reality knows that, all this schoolboy talk of balls and crying aside.
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