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| Treasury Secty Snow's letter to the NY Times | |
| 2006-06-26 | |
| 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
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| Posted by:lotp |
| #17 I have to go with Steve W on this -- there's stuff going on about that NSA and prisons leaks. With this cry of "freedom of the press" the AG's office has got to be sure that have dotted every i and crossed every t. Between the lines, you kinda get the feeling they are pretty close. And I for one, want to be sure, they have dotted every i and crossed every t, so we don't get something like a perjury indictment instead of the real deal, of releasing classified documents to the media. Remember, they have the Mary lady from the CIA that got fired. Seemingly, she knew lots. Again, let's get the i's and the t's right. We want this one to stick! |
| Posted by: Sherry 2006-06-26 23:02 |
| #16 I can't cancel my subscription to the NY Times - I don't subscribe. But I plan to avoid about.com - which is owned by the Times. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2006-06-26 22:39 |
| #15 I suspect most of us have a few bucks in mutual funds either directly or through 401K's. Here is a list of mutual funds that owned over a million shares of NYT stock as of the end of March. Perhaps the fund managers would be interested in hearing from us. |
| Posted by: Matt 2006-06-26 22:26 |
| #14 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. A very straightforward and diplomatic way to lay it on the line as who they are: arrogant f*cks with an agenda. I would like to see GOOD, THOROUGH homework done by the DoJ. Not the half-baked sh*t that won't stand up in court. Hire some top of the line people outside the govt to do the heavy lifting, if you don't have the heavyweights internally. This thing in many ways is like purse seining in commercial fishing. Go around the school of fish, giving them a wide berth with a seine net. Get them encircled, then steadily and swiftly close in the net and you have the whole shebang. Take them out of circulation, heh. Send a message to the rest. Take out the govt leaker, too. I would also pull the NYT press credentials for entering the White House press briefings, and fergawdsake, DO NOT allow the NYT personnel on Air Force 1 or other govt flights. There has to be serious consequences to leaking classified information. Get the NYT on the defensive, lock them out of govt news outlets, and get them in court. Tie them up. Their circulation will tank, their reporters will be locked out, and become quite pi$$ed at Pinchy and Co and quit, and you will sink the MF'ers and EVERYONE will learn a valuable lesson. The world will then be a better place. My 2 inflation-riddled cents. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-06-26 22:23 |
| #13 Who leaked TO the NYT reporters in the first place? None of these Times pieces are possible without someone on the inside of the program passing information to them. A Congressman? Someone with SWIFT? Someone in Treasury? It could have even been innocent - 'good' reporters are talented at guessing, and then telling you in a way that makes you think they already know, such that you somehow (maybe even unconciously) confirm that they are right (seems like the case on the Plame incident). Nah, it was probably another BDS sufferer. |
| Posted by: Glenmore 2006-06-26 22:03 |
| #12 BTW - your email addy for requesting the DOJ to prosecute these bastards is: askdoj@usdoj.gov |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-26 22:02 |
| #11 a breathtaking arrogance...the fourth estate are arrogant leftish agenda-pushing snipes hiding behind the First Amendment. |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2006-06-26 22:02 |
| #10 In the meantime, Steve White, let them go to bed every night listening for a knock at the door, and wake each morning to fear an unscheduled meeting with a few very seriously dressed officials. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-06-26 21:58 |
| #9 Okay, folks, the fact that Mr. Keller hasn't been arrested in the last four hours doesn't mean things aren't happening. They might not happen but this needs time to play out. Mr. Snow writes a letter. Mr. Snow then forwards a complaint to the DoJ. The DoJ has to conduct an investigation; then forward results to a federal DA, which means further investigation. At some point a grand jury would be empaneled. That would take weeks to months. Remember the investigation launched after the NSA leak? There was one, remember? Haven't heard much lately. These things take time. Mr. Keller and Mr. Risen will get theirs, eventually, but it won't happen in 24 hours. |
| Posted by: Steve White 2006-06-26 21:32 |
| #8 How much longer will the NY Times shareholders tolerate the shenanigans and pandering of this fossil? When will the Sulzbergers be called to account for their management fiasco? |
| Posted by: doc 2006-06-26 21:25 |
| #7 If I was the chump in the intelligence community who leaked this story to the press, I'd be feeling a little nervous about now. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2006-06-26 21:18 |
| #6 Ah, a "strongly-worded protest." Nice- but will it be backed up with prosecution? |
| Posted by: Dave D. 2006-06-26 20:24 |
| #5 How about some Warren Buffet sized fines? Say for every innocent civilian or soldier of any nation killed after their publication, they reimburse the family $1.5b per year? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-06-26 20:10 |
| #4 BINGO, Frank. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-06-26 20:10 |
| #3 I like pulling their press credentials to gov't events |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-06-26 20:04 |
| #2 Shut em down, prosecute the lot, throw away the keys. That should go a long way to drying up the leaks. Do it now. |
| Posted by: Rex Mundi 2006-06-26 19:56 |
| #1 P.S. may you crappy little rag go clear out of business. |
| Posted by: Slereth Angimble8930 2006-06-26 19:44 |