John W. Snow, Secretary Treasury Rebukes NY Times

[BlackRain]

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide.

In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

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.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror.

Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money.

The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.

What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.

Sincerely,
[signed]

John W. Snow, Secretary U.S. Department of the Treasury

http://corner.nationalreview.com/

[Laworkerbee]

They should go to jail for this!

[Hiroshima]

Though, didn't the Secretary of the Treasury constantly tout that they were monitoring financial transactions by suspected terrorists already? That means, before the Times let the other shoe drop, the Secretary had already announced it, and the terrorists are already using hard cash instead of electronic transfer....

[askDNA]

meh this all going to be buried tomorrow

[Clarsachier]

Just the usual neocon attacks on the free press. :roll:

This is old news.


A Foreign Terrorist Asset Tracking Center (FTAT) is up and running. The FTAT is a multi-agency task force that will identify the network of terrorist funding and freeze assets before new acts of terrorism take place.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-2.html

[KB]

Mr. Bill Keller, Managing Editor
The New York Times
229 West 43rd Street
New York, NY 10036

Dear Mr. Keller:

The New York Times' decision to disclose the Terrorist Finance Tracking Program, a robust and classified effort to map terrorist networks through the use of financial data, was irresponsible and harmful to the security of Americans and freedom-loving people worldwide.

In choosing to expose this program, despite repeated pleas from high-level officials on both sides of the aisle, including myself, the Times undermined a highly successful counter-terrorism program and alerted terrorists to the methods and sources used to track their money trails.

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.

Indeed, I invited you to my office for the explicit purpose of talking you out of publishing this story. And there was nothing "half-hearted" about that effort. I told you about the true value of the program in defeating terrorism and sought to impress upon you the harm that would occur from its disclosure. I stressed that the program is grounded on solid legal footing, had many built-in safeguards, and has been extremely valuable in the war against terror.

Additionally, Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey met with the reporters and your senior editors to answer countless questions, laying out the legal framework and diligently outlining the multiple safeguards and protections that are in place.

You have defended your decision to compromise this program by asserting that "terror financiers know" our methods for tracking their funds and have already moved to other methods to send money.

The fact that your editors believe themselves to be qualified to assess how terrorists are moving money betrays a breathtaking arrogance and a deep misunderstanding of this program and how it works. While terrorists are relying more heavily than before on cumbersome methods to move money, such as cash couriers, we have continued to see them using the formal financial system, which has made this particular program incredibly valuable.

Lastly, justifying this disclosure by citing the "public interest" in knowing information about this program means the paper has given itself free license to expose any covert activity that it happens to learn of - even those that are legally grounded, responsibly administered, independently overseen, and highly effective. Indeed, you have done so here.

What you've seemed to overlook is that it is also a matter of public interest that we use all means available - lawfully and responsibly - to help protect the American people from the deadly threats of terrorists. I am deeply disappointed in the New York Times.

Sincerely,
[signed]

John W. Snow, Secretary U.S. Department of the Treasury

http://corner.nationalreview.com/

Wonder when Paul O'Neill will weigh in.

[a_very_ex_STAB]

I would imagine the terrorists probably suspected that their transactions can be monitored anyway.

It's just another right wing attack on the freedom of the press

[BlackRain]

Yep, definitely a 'right wing attack' on the media.

Those pesky Democrat Right wingers in congress and on the 9/11 Commission who begged the NY Times not print the story.

Those dang neocon Dems sure owe the Times an apology.




In May, New York Times publisher Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr. told the 900 graduates of the class of 2006 at the State University of New York that he was sorry.

"I will start with an apology," he said, noting that when he graduated in 1974, "my fellow students and I ended the Vietnam War and ousted President Nixon." What he was sorry for was that "we were determined not to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors."

The implication was that Iraq is a mistake just like Vietnam.

"Pinch," who was twice arrested in anti-Vietnam protests in the '60s, was once asked by his father what the younger Sulzberger calls "the dumbest question I've ever heard in my life."

The father had rushed up to Boston after his son, then a student, had gotten arrested in an antiwar demonstration.Punch asked his son this question: "If a young American soldier comes upon a North Vietnamese soldier, which do you want to see get shot?"

"I would want to see the American get shot," the young publisher-to-be replied

"It's the other guy's country; we shouldn't be there," the younger Mr. Sulzberger had said by way of explanation.

[a_very_ex_STAB]

Yep, definitely a 'right wing attack' on the media.

Those pesky Democrat Right wingers in congress and on the 9/11 Commission who begged the NY Times not print the story.

Those dang neocon Dems sure owe the Times an apology.

So John Snow is a democrat then?

[Secret Squirrel]

I would imagine the terrorists probably suspected that their transactions can be monitored anyway.



Impossible! There was only that little post on the WH site in Sept. 2001 that certainly didnt tell them that. [sarcasm]

[CPLHUNTER]

Wow this is guy is my idol:




"Pinch," who was twice arrested in anti-Vietnam protests in the '60s, was once asked by his father what the younger Sulzberger calls "the dumbest question I've ever heard in my life."

The father had rushed up to Boston after his son, then a student, had gotten arrested in an antiwar demonstration.Punch asked his son this question: "If a young American soldier comes upon a North Vietnamese soldier, which do you want to see get shot?"

"I would want to see the American get shot," the young publisher-to-be replied

"It's the other guy's country; we shouldn't be there," the younger Mr. Sulzberger had said by way of explanation.



I'm not even going to post what I really think about this a-hole b/c I would get banned.

[Secret Squirrel]

that pesky real article...


New York Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. told about 900 SUNY New Paltz graduates Sunday that he was sorry.

It wasn't an apology for anything Sulzberger, who first joined the Times in 1978 as a Washington correspondent, specifically did. It was, for the most part, offered as an apology from a member of a generation that had vowed to beat back world ills, such as the Vietnam War and government corruption, and never let them happen again.

"I will start with an apology," Sulzberger told the graduates, who wore black gowns and hats with yellow tassels. "When I graduated in 1974, my fellow students and I ended the Vietnam War and ousted President Nixon. OK. OK. That's not quite true. Maybe there were larger forces at play.

"Either way, we entered the real world committed to making it a better, safer, cleaner, more equal place," Sulzberger added. "We were determined not to repeat the mistakes of our predecessors. We had seen the horror and futility of war and smelled the stench of government corruption. Our children, we vowed, would never know that. So, well, I am sorry."

Sulzberger's comments drew cheers from the graduates as well as some of the 4,000 or so family members and friends who sat inside a fenced-in area on the Old Main quadrangle. A few thousand more stood or sat in lawn chairs around the main setting.

The Times publisher was the keynote speaker of the event and received an honorary degree, the first he has gotten.

Another speaker was class valedictorian Fitzarnaz "Fitz" Vauderville Drummond of Stuyvesant who told his classmates that his message to them was "to continue being active.

"Apathy has no place in this world," Vauderville Drummond said. "New Paltz has shown us the value of caring and getting involved and how we can positively impact our world."

Sulzberger, who become the Times publisher in 1992, told the crowd he did not attend his own graduation in 1974 from Tufts University. He said that the weather, on that particular day, was just too "glorious.

"My cousin and fellow graduate and I heard the road calling," said Sulzberger, who gave his first-ever commencement speech Sunday. "Motorcycling? Speeches? No-brainer."

Sulzberger, whose two children recently got degrees, told parents they would now breathe "a huge sigh of relief.

"Your child has the possibility of a future and, while the bills remain to be paid, at least they have stopped growing," said Sulzberger, who often goes rock-climbing on the Shawangunk Mountains.

Still in a humorous way, Sulzberger went on to say he had prepared for the day, as any good journalist would, by "reporting out the story" and researching what themes others had painted in their commencement speeches.

"Ninety-five percent of them came down to this: 'Today, you enter the real world. Follow your heart. Find what you love and do it.' Who can argue with such wisdom? It's sort of motherhood and apple pie statement."

But the crux of Sulzberger's speech was in his apology.

"It wasn't supposed to be this way," Sulzberger said. "You weren't supposed to be graduating in an America fighting a misbegotten war in a foreign land. You weren't supposed to be graduating into a world where we are still fighting for fundamental human rights, be it the rights of immigrants to start a new life, the right of gays to marry or the rights of women to choose."

Sulzberger added the graduates weren't supposed to be let into a world "where oil still drives policy and environmentalists have to relentlessly fight for every gain.

"You weren't. But you are and I am sorry for that," Sulzberger said.

Referring to his newspaper, Sulzberger said that it has made big decisions lately.

"It's important that those of us at the New York Times have the courage of our own convictions and defend the rights of our journalists to protect their sources or, after much debate and discussion, publish news that our government is bypassing its own legal systems to tap into phone calls made to and from the United States," Sulzberger said.

Sulzberger advised graduates to engage themselves, read newspapers, know the world, neighborhoods, and stand up for America's democracy. At one point he quoted Winston Churchill when he said: "'Never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never - in nothing, great or small large, or petty - never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.'

"None of you wants to be standing where I am 30 years from now, apologizing to the next generation of bright and shiny college graduates," Sulzberger said.

link (http://www.dailyfreeman.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1769&dept_id=74969&newsid=16672880&PAG=461&rfi=9)

[BlackRain]

that pesky real article...

The pesky real source of the quote:



In "The Trust," tells of a confrontation over the war that took place between Arthur Sulzberger Jr. and his father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger.

The father had rushed up to Boston after his son, then a student, had gotten arrested in an antiwar demonstration.Punch asked his son this question: "If a young American soldier comes upon a North Vietnamese soldier, which do you want to see get shot?"

"I would want to see the American get shot," the young publisher-to-be replied

"It's the other guy's country; we shouldn't be there," the younger Mr. Sulzberger had said by way of explanation.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Ochs_Sulzberger_Jr

It gets better: His own father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger, considered it treason.



In "The Trust," authors Susan Tifft and Alex S. Jones tell of a confrontation over the war that took place between its young publisher to be, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., and his father, Arthur "Punch" Sulzberger. ...

To Punch," write Ms. Tifft and Mr. Jones, "such sentiments bordered on treason, and he exploded in anger." They say that the younger Mr. Sulzberger would later characterize his father's query as "the dumbest question I've ever heard in my life" and his own reply as "the dumbest answer."


http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/slipsky/?id=95000407

[a_very_ex_STAB]

So what's it got to do with John Snow? Or are you simply trying to divert attention from the fact that the White House had already leaked information on the monitoring of financial transactions?

[Pandy]

Just the usual neocon attacks on the free press. :roll:

This is old news.



http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010924-2.html


I would imagine the terrorists probably suspected that their transactions can be monitored anyway.

It's just another right wing attack on the freedom of the press


Government isn't allowed free speech?

****ing freedom haters

[mi35d]

There's a difference between saying, "we're monitoring financial transactions" - as we've done for years with drug dealers and printing instructions on nearly every detail of the plan.

"The US has invented this big bomb that can blow stuff up" as compared to, "Here are the design plans and the various components you'll need to build one of your own."

Once again, this isn't some "NeoCon" thing. (As compared to a NeoLib thing? Love the Left's attempt to demonize the right with a derogatory term while presenting themselves with a new label, "We're PROGRESSIVES. We want PROGRESS. No like those evil, NEOCONS!") Democrats and Republicans have expressed their displeasure with the NY Times.

[Frogg]

Well......it was sure news to someone.....not only did the NYT out this program to the terrorists; but, they apparently outed it to Belgium. What???




BRUSSELS (*******) - Belgium's government said on Monday it was investigating the legality of counter-terrorism searches by U.S. officials of thousands of private records held by Brussels-based international bank cooperative SWIFT.

U.S. media reported last week that the U.S. Treasury Department had been tapping into records of the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications since September 11, 2001 for evidence of potential activity by terrorist groups.

Belgian Justice Minister Laurette Onkelinx learned of the searches from the media and asked Belgium's national security services and counter-fraud office to produce reports into the matter before the end of the week, a ministry spokeswoman said.

"She wants to know if these actions taken by the U.S. and SWIFT are okay under Belgian law," Annaik De Voghel said, adding security officials would discuss the issue later this week.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060626/ts_nm/security_swift_belgium_dc

[Frogg]

NYT and leakers should both be charged with treason.

[Clarsachier]

Guess who approved the Dubai ports deal without advising Dubya? The same Dubai who's financial institutions financed 9/11.

Maybe that's why he's getting 'removed' ;

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Snow

[2Sheds_Jackson]

Guess who approved the Dubai ports deal without advising Dubya? The same Dubai who's financial institutions financed 9/11.

Maybe that's why he's getting 'removed' ;

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Snow

That's an astute observation, and is key to this discussion. I understand that he also wears Fruit of the Loom underpants, and they have been linked to child sweatshops in Malaysia. Bush can duck down behind the giant apple or grapes, but he can't hide from us. And did you know that the guy who washes Bush's Presidential Cadillac limo uses an ATM card that's from one of the banks that financed the Murrah Federal building bombing? I always knew that Cadillac's support of terror made them bad cars.

[HR24]

That's an astute observation, and is key to this discussion. I understand that he also wears Fruit of the Loom underpants, and they have been linked to child sweatshops in Malaysia. Bush can duck down behind the giant apple or grapes, but he can't hide from us. And did you know that the guy who washes Bush's Presidential Cadillac limo uses an ATM card that's from one of the banks that financed the Murrah Federal building bombing? I always knew that Cadillac's support of terror made them bad cars.

Good point.