Sec. Snow, Cheney Defend Bank Searches
Outgoing Secretary of the Treasury John Snow said the program to troll through the financial records of Americans without warrants is the thing “I’m proudest of …. It’s really government at its best.”
Wait, before you go…Washington Post:
A secret program that allowed U.S. officials to examine hundreds of thousands of private banking records from around the world in search of terrorist ties has been “absolutely essential” to protecting the country from further attacks, Vice President Cheney said yesterday.
Outgoing Treasury Secretary John W. Snow said that the program, in effect since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, is the thing “I’m proudest of” in his tenure and insisted that strong safeguards protect the privacy of individual Americans. “It’s really government at its best,” Snow said at a news conference. “It’s responsible government. It’s effective government.”
The comments by Cheney, Snow and other senior Bush administration officials were made the day after news organizations exposed the surveillance effort, in which the Treasury Department has subpoenaed data from an international banking cooperative that serves as a messaging service for overseas monetary transfers.
If you're reading this, you probably already know that non-profit, independent journalism is under threat worldwide. Independent news sites are overshadowed by larger heavily funded mainstream media that inundate us with hype and noise that barely scratch the surface. We believe that our readers deserve to know the full story. Truthdig writers bravely dig beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that tells you what’s really happening and who’s rolling up their sleeves to do something about it.
Like you, we believe a well-informed public that doesn’t have blind faith in the status quo can help change the world. Your contribution of as little as $5 monthly or $35 annually will make you a groundbreaking member and lays the foundation of our work.
Support Truthdig
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.