House Republicans yesterday passed a resolution condemning "news organizations", by which they mean the New York Times, for revealing the program to monitor financial transactions through the SWIFT system. With their usual brutality they accuse the NYT of placeing "the lives of Americans in danger", and continuing the longstanding and vile practice of labelling the bearer of any embarrassing news a "traitor", they're shrieking about prosecuting the NYT for treason.
What's so sleazy about it is that the NYT's story doesn't really contain anything new. The NYT didn't reveal any secrets. This is just another shot in the Republicans' war on the free press, and has nothing to do with national security.
Shortly after 9/11, terrorism experts and the government vowed to go after terrorist financing, and periodically they've announced some success shutting down bogus charities and the like. We already knew the government was doing this. Further, there are only a handful of international financial transaction systems, so anyone with the slightest clue would assume that SWIFT was being monitored. Even those without a clue have been on notice for almost five years that international financial transactions were being monitored.
More, the specifics have been out for many years. The NYT article isn't the first mention of SWIFT in the context of monitoring of terrorist finances.
The Boston Globe has an overview. A couple of minutes of independent research turned up plenty of information to support that view. A random sample:
A UN Security Council committee investigating terror financing issued a report in December 2002 naming SWIFT. (The document has a funny restriction on it when accessed directly. Go to http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/committees/1267/1267mg.htm and scroll down to the December 2002 letter, and click the link there. The reference is on page 32 of the document.)
The Web site Money Laundering, Terrorism and Financial Institutions publishes compliance tools for financial institutions to help them avoid running afoul of the "Patriot" Act. Their various white papers require subscription to read, but the search synopses (on the single term "SWIFT") are sufficient to show that info about SWIFT monitoring has been out there for a long time:
# PDF file permanent_subcommittee_on_investigations-correspondent.pdf
http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/money_laundering_subs/legislative_materials/permanent_subcommittee_on_investigations-correspondent.pdf • June 29, 2003 • 1247.6k
MINORITY STAFF OF THE PERMANENT SUBCOMMITTEE ON INVESTIGATIONS REPORT ON CORRESPONDENT BANKING: A GATEWAY FOR MONEY LAUNDERING February 5, 2001 U.S. banks, through the correspondent accounts they provide ...
... facilitate the swift and anonymous movement of funds across ...
... Wire System or the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial ...
... Wire System via SWIFT is already deemed or approved to be `good, ...
# PDF file FinCEN Ruling 2003-2, now posted on FinCEN's website, is a redacted letter concerning a ruling request that a bank be conside
http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/money_laundering_subs/book/chapter_5.4.pdf • June 29, 2003 • 311.7k
Chapter 5.4: THE CANADIAN PROCEEDS OF CRIME (MONEY LAUNDERING) AND TERRORIST FINANCING ACT AND REGULATIONS Richard P. Stobbe ¶ 5.4-1: LEGISLATION ¶ 5.4-2: SCOPE OF THE ACT ¶ 5.4-3: SUSPICIOUS TRANSACTIONS: ...
... more through the SWIFT network (since June 12, 2002). 3. Large cash ...
... medium (such as SWIFT MT 100 or MT 103 messages). The following ...
# PDF file FinCEN Ruling 2003-2, now posted on FinCEN's website, is a redacted letter concerning a ruling request that a bank be conside
http://www.civicresearchinstitute.com/money_laundering_subs/monitor/USA_PATRIOT_Act_Monitor_May_2003.pdf • June 29, 2003 • 798.5k
USA PATRIOT ACT MONITOR By John Ensminger, Esq. Update service of Money Laundering, Terrorism and Financial Institutions, edited by Raymond Banoun, Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and John Ensminger, President, ...
... more through the SWIFT network (since June 12, 2002). 3. Large cash ...
... medium (such as SWIFT MT 100 or MT 103 messages). The following ...
But wait, there's more. Go to the Web site of the US Office of Foreign Asset Controls and search on "SWIFT". You'll get 88 hits. The information is not secret and is available through official government channels.
The above is just a sampling, from the first page of a couple of Google searches. The information is easy to find, and it takes only a few minutes to completely debunk this latest Republican attack on free speech.
Republican outrage has nothing whatsoever to do with national security, and everything to do with trying to intimidate and harrass those who tell the truth about what the government's up to.