Terrorist Finance Tracking Program

The Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, "based on intelligence leads, carefully targets financial transactions of suspected foreign terrorists," Secretary of the U.S. Treasury John W. Snow said June 22, 2006.

"Let me be clear what this program is, and what it is not," Snow said. "It is an essential tool in the war on terror, based on appropriate legal authorities with effective oversight and safeguards. It is not 'data mining', or trolling through the private financial records of Americans. It is not a 'fishing expedition', but rather a sharp harpoon aimed at the heart of terrorist activity. ...

"'If there are people sending money to help al Qaeda, then we need to know about it. We also need to take advantage of that knowledge to follow the money trail and thwart them'," Snow said.

Statements & Legislation

• "Statement of Treasury Secretary John W. Snow on Disclosure of the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program,' U.S. Department of the Treasury, June 22, 2006.
• H.Res. 895: "Supporting Intelligence and Law Enforcement Programs to Track Terrorists and Terrorist Finances Conducted Consistent with Federal Law and with Appropriate Congressional Consultation and Specifically Condemning the Disclosure and Publication of Classified Information." Introduced June 28, 2006, by Rep. Michael G. Oxley (R-Ohio) in the U.S. House of Representatives, 109th Congress, 2d Session.
• H.Res. 895: Introduced June 29, 2006, in the U.S. House of Representatives, 109th Congress, 2d Session. Passed and agreed to in House, June 29, 2006.

External links

• Eric Lichtblau and James Risen, "Bank Data Secretly Reviewed by U.S. to Fight Terror," New York Times, June 22, 2006.
• Jeannine Aversa and Katherine Shrader, "U.S. Gets Access to Worldwide Banking Data," Associated Press (Washington Post), June 22, 2006.
• "Swift Press Release on the Program. Statement released by the banking cooperative Swift on its participation in the U.S. government's anti-terror efforts," Los Angeles Times, June 22, 2006.
• "SWIFT statement on compliance policy," SWIFT.com, June 23, 2006.
• "Newspapers reveal fund-tracking despite feds' pleas," Associated Press (First Amendment Center), June 23, 2006.
• Jaime Jansen, "CIA reviewed financial records of Americans in international database," JURIST, June 23, 2006.
• Josh Meyer and Greg Miller, "Secret U.S. Program Tracks Global Bank Transfers. The Treasury Dept. program, begun after the Sept. 11 attacks, attempts to monitor terrorist financing but raises privacy concerns," Los Angeles Times, June 23, 2006.
• "US defends secret money tracking," BBC, June 23, 2006: "US Treasury Secretary John Snow has defended a secret programme which has been tracking international money transactions for nearly five years."
• Byron York, "'A Good Program…to Make Us Safer…Is Over.' A September 11 commission co-chairman talks about the damage done by the latest New York Times leak," National Review Online, June 28, 2006.

Related SourceWatch Resources

• Bank Secrecy Act
• data mining
• Domestic Spying Leak Investigation
• executive privilege
• Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
• George W. Bush's domestic spying
• George W. Bush's Domestic Spying: Legal or Illegal?
• George W. Bush's domestic spying: SourceWatch Resources
• George W. Bush's phone records spying
• Intelligence Authorization Agreement of 2004