1115.org

So the administration has their collective panties in a bunch over the New York Times story on financial transaction monitoring.

President George W. Bush (6/26/06):

“…And the disclosure of this program is disgraceful. We’re at war with a bunch of people who want to hurt the United States of America, and for people to leak that program, and for a newspaper to publish it does great harm to the United States of America. If you want to figure out what the terrorists are doing, you try to follow their money. And that’s exactly what we’re doing. And the fact that a newspaper disclosed it makes it harder to win this war on terror.”

Vice President Dick Cheney (6/23/06):

“What I find most disturbing about these stories is the fact that some of the news media take it upon themselves to disclose vital national security programs, thereby making it more difficult for us to prevent future attacks against the American people. That offends me.”

White House Press Secretary Tony Snow (6/26/06):

“The New York Times and other news organizations ought to think long and hard about whether a public’s right to know, in some cases, might overwrite somebody’s right to live, and whether, in fact, the publications of these could place in jeopardy the safety of fellow Americans.”

Disgraceful. Offensive. Making it harder to win. Jeopardizing the safety of Americans. That’s pretty harsh language. They must be pretty sure that the Times really tipped off the terrorists and put us all at risk. They’re upstanding like that.

But there sure does seem to be a lot of information about fighting terrorist financing on U.S. government public websites:

Whitehouse.gov (9/24/01):

I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that grave acts of terrorism and threats of terrorism committed by foreign terrorists…that a need exists for further consultation and cooperation with, and sharing of information by, United States and foreign financial institutions as an additional tool to enable the United States to combat the financing of terrorism.
[…]
Sec. 6. The Secretary of State, the Secretary of the Treasury, and other appropriate agencies shall make all relevant efforts to cooperate and coordinate with other countries, including through technical assistance, as well as bilateral and multilateral agreements and arrangements, to achieve the objectives of this order, including the prevention and suppression of acts of terrorism, the denial of financing and financial services to terrorists and terrorist organizations, and the sharing of intelligence about funding activities in support of terrorism.

Whitehouse.gov (9/24/01):

This Executive Order is part of a broader strategy that we have developed for suppressing terrorist financing:

A Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT) is up and running. The FTAT is a multi-agency task force that will identify the network of terrorist funding and freeze assets before new acts of terrorism take place.

Treasury Department press release (3/03/03):

U.S. Treasury Department Announces New Executive Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes

The United States Treasury Department today announced the formation of a new Executive Office for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes (EOTF/FC) reporting directly to the Deputy Secretary. This office has been charged with coordinating and leading the Treasury Department’s multi-faceted efforts to combat terrorist financing and other financial crimes, both within the United States as well as abroad.
[…]
To continue Treasury’s leadership on these critical issues, the new Office is charged with the following duties: developing and implementing U.S. government strategies to combat terrorist financing domestically and internationally…joining in representation of the United States at focused international bodies dedicated to fighting terrorist financing and financial crimes; and developing U.S. government policies relating to financial crimes.

FBI press release (5/11/04):

What specific procedures have U.S. law enforcement agencies put in place to focus their investigations, using the universe of financial information?

Mike Morehart also addresses the specific taskings of his Terrorist Financing Operations Section–which never takes its eye off money trails. Its mission?

To conduct full financial analysis of terrorist suspects and their financial support structures in the U.S. and abroad.

To enlarge its financial information base through private, government, and international sources.

To directly share and work with the financial information of international law enforcement agencies.

To work shoulder to shoulder on cases with prosecutors; with law enforcement and regulatory communities; and with the intelligence community.

To develop predictive models and conduct data analysis that will lead to the identification of previously unknown terrorist suspects.

Whitehouse.gov (12/05/05):

We have built an international coalition that is applying more rigorous financial standards and controls to help prevent terrorists’ use of the international financial system.

In the media: via Lexis-Nexis (links unavailable)

The New York Times
April 10, 2005
SECTION: Section 1; Column 6; National Desk; Pg. 1

HEADLINE: U.S. SEEKS ACCESS TO BANK RECORDS TO DETER TERROR
BYLINE: By ERIC LICHTBLAU

The Bush administration is developing a plan to give the government access to possibly hundreds of millions of international banking records in an effort to trace and deter terrorist financing, even as many bankers say they already feel besieged by government antiterrorism rules that they consider overly burdensome.

Christian Science Monitor
April 8, 2004
SECTION: FEATURES; PLANET; Pg. 14

HEADLINE: The war on terror money
BYLINE: By David R. Francis Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

Quietly and steadily, nations, police detectives, bankers, accountants, and others are striving to expose and trim back the shadowy networks that fund militant groups around the world. The campaign isn’t likely to block all their attacks. Terrorist acts turn out to be relatively cheap to finance. But moves to deny funds to terrorist groups for recruitment and training could impede or limit future assaults. And the money-tracking efforts also sometimes provide leads to these violent groups.
[…]
On the international front, terrorism financing is on the top of the agenda at meetings of both the G-7 and the G-20, says the Treasury’s Mr. Zarate. The G-7 comprises the seven largest industrial nations, and the G-20 includes these as well as major developing countries. The IMF and World Bank have just expanded their programs on terror financing.

The Boston Globe
November 1, 2001
SECTION: BUSINESS; Pg. C1

HEADLINE: NATIONS AIM AT TERRORIST FINANCING
BYLINE: By Scott Bernard Nelson, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON - Twenty-nine countries agreed yesterday to combine forces in an effort to choke off terrorist financing…
[…]
The announcement, following two days of emergency meetings called by the international Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, calls on governments to freeze assets linked to terrorist groups and to step up efforts to keep suspected terrorists from anonymously using the global financial system. The deal came less than a week after Congress revamped US regulation of banks, brokerages, insurance companies, and check cashers.

Maybe before those on the right (including more than a few elected officials) move any further down the road of treason accusations, they should look at how many times the administration has bragged about cracking down on terrorist financing, not to mention the coverage those boasts have received in the media. Even the clowns arrested for terrorist plotting in Miami aren’t stupid enough to ignore all the attention heaped on financial networks post-9/11. Too bad the same can’t be said for the people calling for NYT blood this week.

Update 2:30 PDT by Matt:

More from Laura Rozen on a 2002 U.N. report:

“The settlement of international transactions is usually handled through correspondent banking relationships or large-value message and payment systems, such as the SWIFT, Fedwire or CHIPS systems in the United States of America. Such international clearance centres are critical to processing international banking transactions and are rich with payment information. The United States has begun to apply new monitoring techniques to spot and verify suspicious transactions. The Group recommends the adoption of similar mechanisms by other countries.”