Difference between revisions 118125653 and 118125654 on dewiki

{{sections|date=June 2007}}

The '''Terrorist Finance Tracking Program''' is a [[United States government]] program to access the SWIFT transaction database, revealed by ''[[The New York Times]]'' in June 2006. It is part of the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush administration]]'s "[[Global War on Terrorism]]". Based in [[Belgium]], SWIFT ([[Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication]]) establish common standards for financ(contracted; show full)h|administration]] as another tool in the "[[War on Terrorism|Global War on Terrorism]]". The administration believes the program allows additional scrutiny that could prove instrumental in tracking transactions between terrorist cells. Some have raised concerns that this [[classified information|classified]] program might also be a violation of U.S. and [[Europe|European]] financial privacy laws, because individual search warrants to access financial data were not obtained in advance.<ref>
[http://www.boston.com/news/world/europe/articles/2006/06/28/rights_group_complains Rights group complains - The Boston Globe<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> In response to the claim that the program violates U.S. law, some have noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in ''[[United States v. Miller]]'' (1976) has ruled that there is not an expected right to privacy for financial transaction records held by third parties and that "the [[Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourth Amendment]] does not prohibit the obtaining of information revealed to a third party and conveyed by him to Government authorities, even if (contracted; show full)ublic announcements]] that it planned to track terrorist-related finances. For example, in a speech shortly after [[September 11, 2001 attacks|the September 11th attacks]], George W. Bush elaborated on the Administration's intention to track terrorist funding, saying "if [financial institutions] fail to help us by sharing information or freezing accounts, the Department of the Treasury now has the authority to freeze their bank's assets and transactions in the United States".<ref>
[http://web.archive.org/web/20041014200657/http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-4.html President Freezes Terrorists' Assets<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

However, critics of the decision to disclose the classified program's existence, including [[U.S. Treasury Secretary]] [[John W. Snow]], responded by arguing that there is a vast difference between stating general intentions to track terrorist finances and actually revealing the exact means employed to do so. Some of these critics called attention to ''The New York Times'' itself making no mention of either SWIFT or the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program in a [[Novembe(contracted; show full)versing his strong support of the ''Times'' in his [[June 2]] column.  "I haven't found any evidence in the intervening months that the surveillance program was illegal.... The lack of appropriate oversight—to catch any abuses in the absence of media attention—was a key reason I originally supported publication. I think, however, that I gave it too much weight."<ref name="nytimes20061022">[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/opinion/22pubed.html?pagewanted=2
 Can ‘Magazines’ of The Times Subsidize News Coverage? - New York Times<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

In [[September]] [[2006]], however, the Belgian government declared that the SWIFT dealings with U.S. government authorities were, in fact, a breach of Belgian and European privacy laws.  Times Editor [[Bill Keller]] responded to Calame’s “revisionist epiphany” in a letter published on [[November 6]], [[2006]].  Keller felt that Calame’s premise that “the press should not reveal sensitive secret information unless there is a preponderance of evidence that the information exposes illegal or abusive actions by the government” set too high a bar.  Keller explained that “The banking story landed in the context of a national debate about the concentration of executive power. The Swift program was the latest in a series of programs carried out without the customary checks and balances — in this case, Congressional oversight.  Key members of Congress who would normally be apprised of such a program and who would be expected to monitor its safeguards only learned of the program because we did.”<ref name="publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com">[http://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=75#more-75 Bill Keller Responds to Column on Swift Mea Culpa - The Public Editor - - Clark Hoyt - New York Times Blog<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

==See also==
*[[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]]

==Notes==
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[[Category:Counter-terrorism]]
[[Category:Anti-terrorism policy of the United States]]
[[Category:George W. Bush administration controversies]]
[[Category:United States Department of the Treasury]]
[[Category:Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication]]