Difference between revisions 118125661 and 118125662 on dewiki

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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);Meyer, Josh and Miller, Greg. "[http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-swift23jun23,0,6482687.story Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank Transfers]", ''The Los Angeles Times''. [[June 22]], [[2006]]. Accessed [[June 23]], [[2006]].</ref> revealed that the [[United States government]], specifically the [[Treasury Department]] and the [[CIA]], had a program to access the [[SWIFT]] transaction database after the [[September 11th attacks]]. According to the 
[[June 2006]] ''The New York Times'' article, the program helped lead to the capture of an [[al-Qaeda]] operative known as [[Riduan Isamuddin|Hambali]] in [[2003]], believed to be the mastermind of the [[2002 Bali bombing]], as well as helped identify a [[Brooklyn]] man convicted in [[2005]] for [[Money laundering|laundering money]] for an al-Qaeda operative in [[Pakistan]].<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/23/washington/23intel.html?ei=5088&en=168d69d26685c26c&ex=1308715200&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all| title=Bank Data Is Sifted by U.S. in Secret to Block Terror| author=Lichtblau, Eric and Risen, James| publisher=[[The New York Times]]| accessdate=2006-07-10| year=June 23, 2006}}</ref> The Treasury Department and [[White House]] respo(contracted; show full)

The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program is viewed by the [[George W. Bush|Bush]] [[US Government#Executive Branch|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]]an 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 t(contracted; show full)

Some have also questioned whether the information in the original June 23, 2006 newspaper articles was even secret, despite its [[Information sensitivity#Sensitivity Indicator|U.S. government classification]], because of previous newspaper articles discussing SWIFT. Specifically, a 
[[1998]] ''[[Washington Post]]'' article, in the wake of the [[1998 United States embassy bombings|U.S. embassy bombings]], mentioned that the "CIA and agents with Treasury's [[Financial Crimes Enforcement Network]] also will try to lay tripwires to find out when [[Osama bin Laden|bin Laden]] moves funds by plugging into the computerized systems of bank transaction monitoring services – [[Fedwire|operated]] by the [[Federal Reserve System|Federal Reserve]] and private organizations cal(contracted; show full)vidence 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.  ''New York 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]]