Et tu, NY Times?
In choosing to report on a secret, but legal, government intelligence activity, the NY Times and LA Times have put greed and blind ambition above national security, and may have violated the law.
Some are troubled that large financial transactions are being “spyed on”, but they should know that constitutional privacy concerns do not attach to financial transactions. In fact, the Bank Secrecy Act, passed by a Democratic congress in 1970, requires that banking personnel report any transaction $10,000 and over, and selected other transactions:
Currency Transaction Report (CTR)
Cash transactions in excess of $10,000 during the same business day. The amount over $10,000 can be either from one transaction or a combination of cash transactions. Filed with the Internal Revenue Service.Negotiable Instrument Log (NIL)
Cash purchases of negotiable instruments (e.g., money orders, cashiers checks, travelers cheques) totaling from $3,000 to $10,000, inclusive. Filed with the Internal Revenue Service.Suspicious Activity Report (SAR)
Any cash transaction where the customer seems to be trying to avoid BSA reporting requirements (e.g., CTR, NIL). A SAR must also be filed if the customer’s actions indicate that s/he is laundering money or otherwise violating federal criminal law. The customer must not know that a SAR is being filed. These reports not are filed with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FINCEN”).(quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Secrecy_Act)
Evidently, the NY Times and LA Times feel that the same laws that apply to you should not apply to terrorists.
Hugh Hewitt, an attorney who teaches Constitional Law and syndicated talk show host, has a revealing interview with Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times, where Mr. McManus does agree that the information provided in the articles could assist terrorists in circumventing detection … see the full interview here.
The “two Times” editors maintain that the government only “half heartedly” asked them to withhold publication, but Treasury Secretary Snow addressed that issue in a letter to Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor of The New York Times:
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.
See the full letter at National Review Online.
The SWIFT program was able to capture terrorists without dropping bombs, without endangering innocents, and without exposing American servicemen to undue risk. The NY Time and LA Times may sell a few more papers, and perhaps their leftist friends will “honor” them with a Pulitzler Prize. But they may be responsible for the next domestic terrorist attack.
So I’m left with just one question to ask the editors: Just who’s side are you guys on, anyway?
